Liton Kumer Das was born 16 February 1994 is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper.He made his international debut for Bangladesh in June 2015. He has scored the highest individual score for Bangladesh in ODI cricket (176). Liton Das is the first wicketkeeper-batsman in Bangladesh considered good enough to be a long-term successor to Mushfiqur Rahim. His domestic exploits for Abahani in the Dhaka Premier League and Rangpur Division in the National Cricket League in the 2014-15 season earned him recognition and later a call-up in the senior side for the Test against India in Fatullah in June 2015.
Hailing from the northern district of Dinajpur, which is around 331km from capital Dhaka, Liton began his adolescent life as a young cricketer in BKSP. He impressed one and all with his heavy run-scoring in school and age-group cricket. He was soon picked in Bangladesh’s Under-19 side in 2012, the usual route for any talented young cricketer from BKSP and soon enough, he scored heavily in Youth ODIs too. In two Under-19 World Cups in 2012 and 2014, Liton averaged 51.33 with a century and three fifties.
Das made his Test debut against India in June 2015. He played some eye-pleasing strokes before he fell for 44 off 45 balls. He bettered his performance against the then ranked one team, South Africa, and registered his maiden Test fifty. He hasn’t showcased his talents in the shorter formats and that has resulted in an in-and-out selection in the national team. He faces a stiff competition with Nurul Hasan to don the gloves whenever Mushfiqur Rahim misses an international game.
Liton Das was recalled into the Test side in March 2017 against away tour of Sri Lanka and he did just enough to keep his place in the side for the next couple of tours which included an away series with South Africa. He is fine talent and has some serious numbers in the domestic circuit, particularly in the longer format. A batsman who likes to keep things moving, Das is a shotmaker who can put the pressure back on the opposition in a jiffy. His keeping skills are also quite good and with Rahim abandoning the gloves, a lot will be expected of young Das to make the keeper batsman slot his own in Tests. He has strictly decent numbers in red-ball cricket for Bangladesh while his ODI stats are disappointing thus far. However, it’s still early days in his career and with the kind of talent he has, it shouldn’t be long before he turns things around.
In June 2018, Bangladesh toured West Indies and United States for two Tests, three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 International. In the first test, Bangladesh recorded their lowest team total in Tests with Das managing to enter double figures among other batters- a mere 25 off 53 balls in a losing cause making a record for Das. In the third t20 match against West Indies, he reached his first white-ball half-century off 24 balls, and his first 50-plus score in 17 innings scoring 61 runs eventually sealing the T20I series 2-1 and also ended up winning the Player of the match award.
On 28 September 2018, against India in the final of the 2018 Asia Cup, Das scored his maiden ODI century and went on to make 121(117) with 12 boundaries and 2 sixes.In April 2019, Das was named in Bangladesh’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.In March 2020, when Zimbabwe toured Bangladesh, in the first ODI, Das scored 126 runs, his second century in ODI and became the first Bangladeshi batsman to score a century at Sylhet. In the 3rd ODI, he scored his 1000th run in ODIs and then along with Tamim Iqbal made the highest partnership for Bangladesh for any wicket in ODIs (292 runs) as well as scoring 176 runs off 143 balls. On 29 March 2023, in the 2nd T20I against Ireland, he reached his fifty in just 18 balls recording the fastest half-century by a Bangladeshi cricketer in T20Is.He scored 83 runs off 41 balls and made a 124-run stand with Rony Talukdar, the highest opening partnership for Bangladesh in T20Is, helping Bangladesh to defeat Ireland by 77 runs
Liton Das might not get to keep during the tournament but he is neat and pretty quick behind the sticks. And breaking into a line up possessing the likes of Tamim, Rahim, Shakib and Mahmudullah won’t be easy but Liton would want to grab at every chance thrown at him during his maiden WC.
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