Litton Das to captain Bangladesh in last two ODIs vs Afghanistan

Litton Das has been given the interim charge following Tamim Iqbal's shocking retirement announcement.

Following Tamim Iqbal's shocking announcement to retire from international cricket on Thursday, Litton Das has been selected as Bangladesh's captain for the rest of the ODI series against Afghanistan at home.

Litton Das, who had previously only served as a stand-in skipper for Bangladesh, served as vice-captain for the ongoing ODI series against Afghanistan. He is been seen as a stop-gap arrangement with the more experienced Shakib Al Hasan being the front-runner to become captain of the ODI team.

Litton Das has a good record as captain in ODIs, with his biggest achievement coming against India in December 2022, when he led the side in-stead of Tamim, who was out injured, and led the Bangladeshi side to a 2-1 series win over Rohit Sharma and co.

He also led Bangladesh to a Test-match win over Afghanistan the only time he was captain of that side, in June this year, when Shakib was out with a finger injury. Litton Das has also captained Bangladesh in one single T20I, in a heavy defeat to New Zealand in Auckland in April 2021.

A top BCB official also confirmed to Cricbuzz that they need to have a third opener in the team after Tamim’s retirement and have drafted in Rony Talukdar.

"Rony (Talukdar) will be drafted in the squad as we need to have another opener in the squad considering there is no Tamim Iqbal for us," said the official.

Bangladesh lost the opening game against Afghanistan by 17 runs via the DLS method at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on July 5.

Tamim Iqbal left team hotel and returned home to Chattogram

The remaining two ODIs will be played at the same venue respectively on July 8 and 11. And before the second match, Tamim Iqbal dropped a bombshell just three months before the ICC World Cup 2023 in India, by announcing his immediate retirement from international cricket.

He retired as the leading run-getter and century-maker in ODIs for Bangladesh.

Tamim has already checked out of the team hotel and gone to his Chattogram home. The hitter comes from a Chattogram cricketing family; his older brother Nafees Iqbal and uncle Akram Khan also played for Bangladesh while he rose to become one of the team's most dependable players.