Litton delivers after going back to basics

While all the eyes were fixed on Mushfiqur Rahim's century in his 100 Test match, Litton Kumar Das returned to form with a sublime hundred against Ireland on the second day of the second Test at Mirpur.

Following his 138 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in August 2024, Litton's form in red-ball cricket turned out to be a major concern as he managed to score only 335 runs in the following eight Test matches at an average of 22.26.

Litton got injured during the Asia Cup and subsequently missed the white-ball series against Afghanistan and it probably turned to be a blessing in disguise as he got his act together during the period he was out of competitive cricket.

Bangladesh Tigers head coach Sohel Islam told Cricbuzz that his preparation following any injury is completely different from others and it suits him as he is keener on his timing more than anything else.

"When he starts practicing following any injury he works with his basics and what we call primary basics and unlike others don't tries to hurry up things," said Sohel, who is heading a program designed to prepare national cricketers when they are side-lined.

"He (Litton) comes to the indoor [nets] and drives against over-arm throws and these are the things a batsman usually does when he is on primary stage," he said.

"He is a timer and for him his grip is very important and he needs to have that feel considering he doesn't hold the grip very tightly or softly so he got to have that feel and his preparation is completely different from others," he said.

"When he gets the feel he understands that he is getting back to rhythm and that is very necessary for him to shine in the middle," he said.

The stylish right-hander certainly took the center stage with his commanding knock mixed with controlled aggression that included some sweetly timed drives along with cuts and pull shots.

Litton, who eventually fell for a sparkling 128 off 192 balls laced with eight fours and four sixes, added 123-runs in the sixth-wicket stand with Mehidy Hasan Miraz to ensure Bangladesh completed the day in a commanding manner.

Sohel added that Litton never looked to be out of form during this time when he was unable to translate his starts and rather insisted that he is reaping the benefit of batting with a change in mindset.

"I think he was not out of form (during the last one year), at any point it was just that he could not make it big and what I feel is that he tries to bat in the same tempo for the whole time and it won't work in longer-format cricket and that is something he probably worked on in this innings and it paid off," said Sohel.

"When he bats in white-ball there is a rise in acceleration all the time like in ODI it (batting tempo) goes in more or less same tempo while in T20Is it (acceleration) only rises, but in Test it's a different matter altogether. In Test cricket you need to play differently at different point like you need to pace down your innings according to the demand of the situation, you need to slow down at times while need to accelerate at some other points but it cannot remain the same all the time. If you try to play in similar pace all the time I think it will difficult to survive and probably that is the reason he was unable to translate those starts. In this game his innings was quite balanced and if he manages to bat in similar tempo he will have more success in longer-format cricket," he added.