Bangladesh have brought Litton Das back in the ODI side as one of five changes for next month’s three-match series against Sri Lanka - two of the changes were forced as Mahmudullah has retired from international cricket and Mushfiqur Rahim has retired from ODIs.

The two made the announcements a week apart following Bangladesh’s early exit from the Champions Trophy, which was also their last ODI assignment.

Chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain said that Litton was given the opportunity in part because he was recently named the Bangladesh T20I captain. Litton made only 35 runs in eight ODIs between the tour of New Zealand in December 2023 and the tour of the West Indies in December 2024 before being dropped, including for the Champions Trophy.

“Litton Das was in a bad patch but time is the best healer. He is the T20 captain, so we can consider him till the next T20 World Cup,” Ashraf said. “If someone has to return to form, it is best to spend a long time in the middle. We feel that Litton can take his form from ODIs to T20Is.”

The selectors have also recalled Mohammad Naim, Shamim Hossain, Tanvir Islam and Hasan Mahmud.

“Naim has shown that he can bat with the same intensity as our [recent] white-ball openers,” Ashraf said. “He has done well in the Dhaka Premier League. We also have someone like Soumya Sarkar, who has ten years of international experience. [He has been dropped because] we want to help him recover fully, so that he can come back properly.”

Top-order batter Naim played the last of his ODIs way back in September 2023, while this is the first ODI call-up for left-arm spinner Tanvir, whose international experience is restricted to six T20Is.

Ashraf added that five fast bowlers have been picked to manage the workload of Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana. “We have included five fast bowlers in the ODI side as we have Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed are returning from injuries. We are also mindful of Nahid Rana’s workload management, so we have kept enough options to choose from.”

Elaborating on the axing of Sarkar, one of the two active players to be left out from the side along with Nasum Ahmed, Ashraf said, “Soumya Sarkar has had three injuries in the last 12-15 months. He had an ACL injury against Sri Lanka last year. He had a finger injury in West Indies. Recently, he suffered a back spasm when we were considering him for the UAE series. He didn’t recover in time, so he couldn’t play any matches. We couldn’t keep him in the side against Pakistan. We want him to recover fully, and return to consideration.”

The three ODIs will be played on July 2, 5 and 8. The first two ODIs will be held at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo while the third match will be held in Pallekele.

Bangladesh squad for ODI series vs Sri Lanka

Mehidy Hasan Miraz (capt), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammad Naim, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Litton Das, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud

Source: Espncricinfo

- Agencies