‘Our only aim is to play for win’ – Litton Das in an interview before the ODI series against India

The all-awaited India tour of Bangladesh began on December 4, Sunday. The series opener is played at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Litton Das will be leading in this series in absence of regular skipper Tamim Iqbal who has been ruled out of the series due to a groin injury. Their star-studded pacer Taskin Ahmed is also set to miss the first ODI due to a back injury. 

This series is not a part of the World Cup Super League, facing India would be a chance for Bangla Tigers to prepare themselves for the next year’s 50-over World Cup. Despite Tamim’s absence, the Bangladesh side has a lot of experience with the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Mahmudullah Riyad. 

In the bowling department, the Tigers will show faith in their prime pacer Mustafizur Rehman who performed extraordinarily back in 2015 against the Men in Blue on their last visit. 

“Our only aim is to play for a win and I think it’s possible to beat them [India]. We have good bowling and batting units. Also, I have 2-3 players who have played international cricket for more than 15 years. I hope that I will get support from them. Our main focus is to win the series and more importantly we want to improve gradually and everyone is excited about the big series,” Liton told the media yesterday.

I think it has been an exciting rivalry for all these years: Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma and the company will take this series as the build-up for the next year’s 50-over World Cup which is scheduled to take place in India only. With the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul in the team, India would not be taking this series lightly. 

“Oh, I think it has been an exciting rivalry for all these years. Bangladesh have been a different team in the past 7-8 years. They are a very challenging team and we did not have easy wins against them. We have to play good cricket to win. And every time we played them, it has been a very close encounter,” Rohit told the media yesterday.

“Even in the 20-20 World Cup, it was a close game. I think in 2015 we lost the series here. We know they have become a very improved team in the last few years. So we have to play our best cricket to win this. It is not going to be easy for us,” Rohit said.