ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Why is Litton Das not playing in IND vs BAN clash

Litton Das made his ODI debut in 2015.

The Bangladesh cricket team got their campaign at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 underway on Thursday against India in Dubai. These two teams are placed in Group A alongside Pakistan and New Zealand.

Bangladesh got off to a shaky start as they lost three wickets for only 26 runs, giving away wickets to Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana, after electing to bat first.

What hurt them that the three dismissals were of their experienced players – Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz – all three gone for single-digit scores.

In such an event, Bangladesh seemed to be missing their veteran Litton Das, who is one of the country’s most experienced ODI players, having featured in 94 ODIs and 95 T20I matches so far in his career. However, not only Liton isn’t part of the playing XI against Bangladesh, the keeper-batsman wasn’t even picked in Bangladesh’s 15-man squad.

Why didn’t Bangladesh pick Litton Das in ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad?

Litton wasn’t picked by Bangladesh because of his poor ODI form: he has only one double-digit score in his last eight ODI innings, and this string of low scores includes three ducks. His last half-century in ODIs was during the World Cup 2023.

After being axed, Das had accepted his exclusion gracefully, stating, “I was given a clear message. Maybe not from the selectors but it is easy to find out why I wasn’t picked in the team. I was dropped because I wasn’t performing. There’s nothing to hide about it. Basic, normal.”

“Fans will support me but then when I don’t do well, people will be negative. That’s not really my concern. I am focused on what I need to do. I haven’t been playing well, so I need to improve my game. I won’t change overnight, so I have to keep trying. People will love it when I score runs,” he added.

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