Liton Das made his World Cup debut a remarkable one, smashing a 69 ball-94 not out, which played a vital role alongside Shakib Al Hasan’s sublime 124 not out to script Bangladesh’s comfortable seven-wicket win over West Indies on Monday at Taunton. Liton’s innings was clinically designed-he accumulated calmly before sensationally accelerating, hitting Shanon Gabriel for three consecutive sixes to hasten Bangladesh’s victory as the Tigers reached the winning target of 322-3, gunning down West Indies’ heft 321-8 with 51 balls to spare. Liton however credited Shakib al Hasan to release pressure from his shoulder as well as guiding him in the middle against West Indies while he added that he was satisfied to stay till the end. “The way Shakib [bhai] batted, some of his boundaries helped me a lot and that helped me to release the pressure,” he said.
“At the end of the match, I want to say that I never felt this way,” he added.
Liton, who is basically an opener, was demoted down the order against West Indies as he replaced Mohammad Mithun in the playing XI for Bangladesh and he repaid the faith in style by making unbeaten 94 runs at number five.
Liton supported Shakib like an experienced middle-order batsman and in the process the duo added a record undefeated 189 runs for the fourth wicket.
“I scored a lot of run the domestic league but never finished any game. It was a big achievement for me as I finished today’s match and that too in a big event like the World Cup,” he said.
“I didn’t have much to say to Shakib bhai. The one thing I have said to him that, opportunity like this doesn’t come too often, if you stay not out your run will increase and you will also be able to handle the match pretty well,” he added.
“We always want to score as a player and we also want our partner to score as well because it’s a team game actually. When he was scoring I felt really well,’ he said. “I think, when I was scoring he also felt really well because when I scored my fifty he came running towards me and gave me a hug. He also knew that I am new to this and it’s very challenging phase for me. So, he helped me a lot today,” he concluded.
