Litton Das rejects resigning

Bangladesh Captain Litton Das has ruled out resigning from the Captaincy after the team’s Asian Games campaign ended without a medal.

He acknowledged that his own performance and the team’s overall cricket were below the standard.

Bangladesh had arrived at the Games with a medal target but lost to Pakistan before suffering another heavy defeat by Sri Lanka, which ended their campaign without a podium finish.

Asked whether he felt responsible for the failures and whether he would resign, Litton said he had not performed well in either match but saw no reason to step down.

“My performance was not up to the mark. I could not perform well in both matches,” Litton said at the post-match press conference. But when asked directly if he wanted to resign, he replied: “No, I don’t want to resign.

There are ups and downs in cricket. One day will be good, one day will be bad. There is nothing to resign for.”

Litton made two runs in Bangladesh’s first match and was dismissed for a duck against Sri Lanka.

He also accepted that Bangladesh had failed to make the most of an opportunity at the Asian Games. “It is very bad,” he said. “We came here with a big target.

When that did not happen, there was another option. We had an opportunity, but we missed it. We could not play good cricket, that’s why we missed the opportunities.”

Bangladesh’s captain said the team’s bowling had initially put them in a good position against Sri Lanka before an opposing batter produced an exceptional innings that changed the game.

“We bowled very well in the first eight overs,” Litton said. “Then you saw how a batter played shots on this wicket. It was very difficult, but he batted extraordinarily.

Our bowlers did not get any clue about how to come back.” The batting, he said, was not good enough to recover from the situation.

“Batting-wise, we were not up to the mark today,” Litton said.