‘This is not an ideal wicket for T20s’

Litton Das blasted the Mirpur Sher-e Bangla National Stadium wicket, calling it “not an ideal wicket for T20s” after the dramatic loss against Sylhet Titans in the Bashundhara Cement Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Eliminator on Tuesday.

Chasing a small total of 112 on a tricky Mirpur wicket, the Titans needed six off the last ball of the innings, with English all-rounder Chris Woakes on strike. Woakes smashed a wide yorker from Faheem Ashraf over the cover boundary for six to win the match for his side.

Following that jaw-dropping finish, Litton came to face the media visibly frustrated. He said the manner in which they lost the game reminded him of the famous Nidahas Trophy final against India, where Soumya Sarkar was hit for a Dinesh Karthik six over cover and Bangladesh lost the match.

“Losing to a six off the last ball reminded me of the Nidahas Trophy — six over cover, same thing,” Litton said. “It’s fine. That’s cricket, that’s life. There will be ups and downs. It would have been nice to win. We couldn’t, nothing we can do now,” he added.

He also spoke bluntly about the nature of the wicket and said it was not ideal for a knockout game in a franchise tournament like the BPL.

“So I can say this much — this is not an ideal wicket for T20s,” he said when asked about the nature of the wicket and how much it would help them prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup. “Whether it’s good for the World Cup or not, I don’t know. I expected better wickets in the qualifier matches,” he added.

When asked again about the wicket, Litton explained the scenario, saying it was “entirely in favour of bowlers”.

“For cricket, I wouldn’t say this T20 format is completely non-ideal. But in qualifier matches — do-or-die games — if you prepare wickets entirely in favour of bowlers, then that’s not really cricket. I think both teams expected better wickets. Losing the match wouldn’t have been an issue, but if the cricket itself felt more like cricket, it would have been better,” he explained.

Litton was also asked about the batting performance of the Riders, to which he replied with another question. “What answer can I give to that?” he asked.

“Seeing the wicket, both teams struggled. It’s not like they won the game in 10 overs. They won on the last ball needing six runs. That shows how tough the wicket was. Obviously, the new ball was very challenging. We lost early wickets and went on the back foot. Still, I think Riyad (Mahmudullah) bhai and Khushdil (Shah) batted well, and Sohan (Nurul Hasan) bhai too. If they had been able to extend it a bit more, maybe if the score had gone to 130, the story could have been different,” he added.

He also highlighted the importance of fielding, as Rangpur seemed to lack heavily in ground fielding.

“As I said in a press conference two days ago, on paper we are a very good team. But cricket isn’t played on paper — it’s about execution on the 22 yards. On paper, our batting and bowling are good, but our fielding has been poor. In most matches, fielding hurt us badly. Even today, we gave away many extra runs. When you’re playing low-scoring matches, your fielding unit becomes extremely important,” he said.

Litton was asked about his own batting performance, as he scored only 200 runs in 11 outings — a performance he explained in two words.

“Very bad,” he rued.

When asked again about his season, he repeated the same answer.

“Very bad,” he grimaced.

Litton also apologised for his and his team’s performance. “Unfortunately, we got knocked out at the qualifier. Sorry to the Rangpur fans. We couldn’t live up to their expectations, and again, sorry to them for trusting me with this responsibility — I couldn’t fulfil that expectation either. But at the same time, if we do go to the World Cup, this break will be very helpful,” he concluded.