Litton sees impact of long spell on sidelines

Bangladesh One Day International series and T20 International series captain Litton Das believes the team’s long spell away from competitive cricket affected their performance in the 20th Asian Games semi-final against Pakistan, particularly because they had little opportunity to assess the wicket and conditions before taking the field.

Bangladesh were knocked out of the gold-medal race after suffering a six-wicket defeat to Pakistan in a rain-shortened 13-over semi-final in Aichi-Nagoya. They will now face Sri Lanka in the bronze-medal match.

Bangladesh had hoped to reclaim the Asian Games cricket gold they won at Guangzhou in 2010, their only gold medal in the Games. However, sixteen years later, Litton’s side must settle for a fight for bronze after falling short against Pakistan.

Litton made no attempt to hide his disappointment after the match.

“It's never an ideal result. But when there are certain shortcomings, many things go beyond your control,” he said.

The Bangladesh captain identified their bowling in the middle overs as one of the key reasons for the defeat. He felt the outcome could have been different had they conceded fewer boundaries, particularly sixes, during that period.

“If we could have bowled a little better in the middle overs, if we could have conceded fewer over-boundaries, we would have had a better chance,” Litton said.

Bangladesh had been unable to train after arriving in Aichi-Nagoya because of persistent rain. They also progressed to the semi-finals without playing their quarter-final, which was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Litton believes going straight into a semi-final after such a long break inevitably had an effect.

“We had been sitting in our rooms for a long time. Then we came to play this match and lost the toss as well. So we did not really have many options. The wicket was also a little difficult. After sitting around for so long, it is not easy to come out and play an exceptional innings straight away,” he stated.

The lack of time in the middle also deprived Bangladesh of the chance to familiarise themselves with the wicket and conditions.

Litton felt that unfamiliarity was particularly evident in the early overs of their innings.

“When you stay out of the game for a long time, you gradually get an idea about the wicket after playing on it. We did not have that understanding. We had not watched any matches in the last few days and did not get an opportunity to practise on the wicket either,” he added.

“So, in the first few overs, we were playing without much of an idea. Gradually, the batters began to understand the wicket.”

Bangladesh must now put the semi-final defeat behind them and regroup for the bronze-medal match against Sri Lanka.