Litton Das didn’t try to dress it up. West Indies’ 3-0 win in Sylhet was, in his words, “one or two series, we can play like this”, a blunt concession that Bangladesh were second-best all week. It is only the Tigers’ second whitewash at home in a dozen bilateral T20I rubbers, and it arrives barely four months after they strung together four series wins on the spin. The about-turn is hard to miss.
Bangladesh fell short of 166 and 150 in the opening two games, then watched Roston Chase’s side make light work of a 152 chase on what the all-rounder called “the best pitch in the series”. Tanzid Hasan was the exception: back-to-back fifties, 89 in the finale, and precious little back-up. In game three no one beyond Tanzid and Saif Hassan (23) reached double figures; a promising 107 for 2 became 151 all out.
Even so, the captain is sticking with his core. “We have proven players in the current squad,” Litton reminded reporters. “If you change players every day, the results will be the same. A new player is unlikely to give you much more. So those who are playing cricket for a long time, it is better to go ahead with them to expect better results.”
Crowded calendar bites
His defence of incumbents is tied to the workload. Only Pakistan have played more cricket than Bangladesh in 2025 – 44 matches to 42 – and the Tigers have topped forty fixtures in each of the past five seasons. Two Tests and three T20Is in Ireland loom next month. Little wonder Litton floated the R-word.
“Sometimes, the players need rest because when you play so much, many things will not go your way,” he said. “When the players get a break… they will get at least ten days of break to restart themselves.” He hopes that window, slim though it is, offers a reset before the trip to Dublin.
Litton himself had a brief breather – he sat out the Netherlands T20s earlier this year – but most of the squad have been on tour or in camp since June. “We had separate fitness and skills camps before the Netherlands series… I was not in the T20 squad, so I got some time at home – most of these players were playing [continuously],” he noted.
Skills gap shows
Rest alone will not solve everything. Litton acknowledged a technical lag, especially in shot-making on slower decks. “World cricket is now far ahead, and those who bat on turning wickets play the reverse sweep. In that regard, we are a little behind,” he admitted. The skipper wants batters to widen their range without losing the strokes that brought them here. “You should increase your strengths as much as possible, but when you apply it depends on your game.”
That means targeted work rather than wholesale change. “A player can go through a bad time for four or five matches… I am sure the batters will focus on those areas and consult the batting coach to make a comeback,” he said.
What next?
Selectors are unlikely to swing the axe before Ireland, partly through choice, partly through lack of immediate options. Litton’s public backing removes any mystique: the incumbent top order will get the chance to sort themselves out. The bowling, quietly decent across the three matches, is expected to remain untouched.
For now the message inside the dressing-room is equal parts rest up, skill-up, and trust the process. Whether ten quiet days at home can mend a winter’s worth of weary minds and mis-hit reverse sweeps is another question entirely.
