Litton Das and the rare art of the rescue century

"One, two, three, four, five…"

That was a travelling journalist counting Pakistani fielders at the boundary when Litton Kumar Das went on the rampage at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

His counting stopped at eight.

You heard it right. For most of Litton's incredible counter-attacking display, eight fielders were patrolling the boundary. Despite that spider field set by Shan Masood, the 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batter found gaps — sometimes along the ground, sometimes over the top — to compile an incredible 126 off just 159 deliveries, highlighted by 16 boundaries and two sixes.

Litton reached his first fifty of the day off 93 deliveries, striking only four fours in that period. But he then turned on the beast mode, getting to his sixth Test century — and third against Pakistan — off just 35 more deliveries.

Here comes the best part.

A look through Litton's ten finest Test knocks tells a story that numbers alone cannot fully capture. From 95 against Zimbabwe in Harare to 114 against Pakistan in Chattogram, from his 141 against Sri Lanka in Mirpur with Bangladesh tottering at 24 for five, to his legendary 138 in Rawalpindi coming in at 20 for four — Litton has a habit of arriving at the crease when the situation is most desperate and leaving it only after the crisis has passed.

Three of his six Test centuries have come when Bangladesh were four wickets down with fewer than 50 runs on the board. Saturday's 126, scored with the hosts in freefall at 106 for four before sliding further to 116 for six, was the latest — and perhaps most complete — chapter in that remarkable story.

No other batter in Test cricket holds that record.

On Saturday, Litton did all of that with three tailenders in Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam for company.

He walked in when Bangladesh had just lost captain Najmul Hossain Shanto with the hosts tottering at 106 for four. That number soon became 116 for six. From there, Litton and the lower order took Bangladesh to 278.

Still in single figures at the time, Litton was joined by Taijul. The duo added 60 off 114 balls before Taijul lost his off-stump to Sajid Khan. Taskin then joined Litton and the pair added 38 off 42 balls. Shoriful hung around for 73 balls as the two combined for 64 runs before Litton finally departed pulling for six.

Throughout those three partnerships, Litton regularly declined singles to protect his partners. As many as 26 singles were refused by Litton himself.

Pakistan off-spinner Sajid Khan was threatening Bangladesh's left-hander-heavy lower order. Being the only right-handed batter, Litton had to face the majority of Sajid's deliveries before risking his partners on the last one or two balls of each over. He failed to maintain that pattern once, leaving Taijul exposed to a full Sajid over — and the left-hander was bowled by the off-spinner with an arm ball.

Litton did not make that mistake again, and was rewarded with a rescue century that echoed his heroics in Rawalpindi in 2024, when he scored a magical 138 coming in with the team at 26 for six — a knock that helped Bangladesh to a historic series win in Pakistan.

For Pakistan, it was like watching a horror movie for the second time. Khurram Shahzad was part of that tour and was playing in this Test as well. "You cannot say anything. But as I said before, today he played very luckily. He got two chances. But talking about the situation again, at that time they were six down for 26. Today, they were six down for around 150. But still, we bowled well and got them out," he said after the day's play.

Litton, however, was unapologetic about his good fortune, while crediting his lower-order partners for making the innings possible.

"Lucky? Okay, you need luck," he said. "The most important thing in this innings — bigger than the century — is that Taijul, Taskin and Shoriful all batted well and faced a lot of balls. Naturally they won't score runs, the responsibility to score is mine as the batsman."

When asked about his three back-against-the-wall centuries, Litton was reflective.

"Two things can happen. I think the innings against Sri Lanka was totally different because there was a partnership with Mushi (Mushfiqur Rahim) bhai. When your partner is a batter, the mindset stays clear. In Rawalpindi too it was the same because Miraz is a batter — for a long time in that innings I had almost 80 runs, I only had to struggle for 20. Today's was totally different. I think when I was on two or three, Taijul bhai came to strike. Nobody can announce and score a century. And I'm not very worried about scoring a century either. My target was how runs could come onto the board. When Taijul bhai came, our score was 110-something. So my target was how to take the team to 200. Obviously I had to fill up that target myself — my tail won't score runs, I have to score them. So I sent a message asking whether we should go attacking or not. From upstairs they just said play for runs. So I tried to score runs," he said.

"My role itself is different. Some days you'll see the top-order scoring runs and maybe I come in around the 60th or 70th over when the ball has started turning. So my cricket is such that I have to enjoy whatever particular situation comes. This is also a challenge, but there were many things to enjoy here too," he added.

Beyond his match-winning temperament, Litton's century contained an incredible exhibition of boundary-hitting despite Pakistan's suffocating defensive fields. He was attacked with bouncers repeatedly, with fielders placed in the deep in catching positions. Yet Litton kept finding the boundary — and occasionally clearing it — with a stunning array of pull shots. A remarkable 56 of his 126 runs came in the arc from square leg to third man, underlining just how productive the horizontal bat was for him on Saturday.

"Regarding the bouncer, I think it's a scoring opportunity for me. But unfortunately in the last two innings I got out to bouncers, and even today I think that was in the back of their minds. Since I got out to bouncers in two consecutive innings, they probably felt it was the best option. But I enjoyed the bouncer a lot," he noted.

For Pakistan, the numbers tell a familiar, painful story. Against Zimbabwe in Harare, Litton made 95 coming in at 109 for five. Against New Zealand in Christchurch, it was 102 from 105 for three. Against Sri Lanka in Mirpur, 141 from 24 for five. Against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, 138 from 20 for four. And now, against Pakistan in Sylhet, 126 from 106 for four.

The situations change. The venue changes. The opposition changes. Litton does not.