Cricket: Litton Das to captain Bangladesh in test match vs Afghanistan

Litton Das, the free-scoring Bangladesh opening batsman, finally seems to have gotten his due reward of leading his country in the one-off Test match against Afghanistan.

The Test match is slated to start on June 14 in the Mirpur stadium. He leads the country for the first time in Test matches, in place of Shakib Al  Hasan. The all-rounder has been sidelined due to an injury he suffered to his finger while playing in a ODI against Ireland recently and is expected to be out of action for about six weeks.

This is not Das’ first stint as captain though, as he has led Bangladesh against India thrice, all in white ball matches. The 28-year-old wicket keeper-batsman has played 38 Tests and compiled 2,319 runs with three centuries.

Meanwhile, the quickie Taskin Ahmed is back in the Bangladesh team after recovering from a side strain. Bangladesh defeated Ireland in a Test match in April last and its ODI squad toured Ireland in May. However, Taskin Ahmed had to miss out on both due to his side strain. Uncapped players, Shahadat Hossain and Musfik Hasan, have also been included in the 15-player squad to play under Litton Das.

The 21-year-old Shahdat Hossain is a promising right-handed middle order batsman who has been a part of Bangladesh’s triumphant ICC U19 Cricket World Cup outfit in 2020.

Bangladesh has always been an unpredictable side and let's see if the changes they have rung in bring more joy to the cricketing world.

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