Liton begins Bangladesh Tigers camp to solve underlying batting issues

Bangladesh batsman Liton Das has begun training with Bangladesh Tigers programme after being axed from the Champions Trophy-bound squad.

Liton underwent training alongside the likes of Afif Hossain, Mahidul Islam Ankon and Shamim Hossain under the guidance of Bangladesh Tigers program head coach Sohel Islam.

Liton had been suffering from a bad patch in international circuit and his lack of runs saw him eventually left out of the Champions Trophy squad. In the recently-concluded BPL, Liton was able to get back into runs and hit a ton for Dhaka Capitals.

Sohel informed that Liton and others are staying prepared for international matches while also readying themselves for the upcoming Dhaka Premier League, likely to begin on March 3.

BCB chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu had once spoken about Liton's struggles against the new ball in white-ball formats. Given that he is always coming in at the top, Liton has been going through the gears in training to find his rhythm against the new ball.

"Actually this things were discussed with Liton before we begun the practice session today. We have talked about various things and how to make things smooth. He has been struggling momentarily but he was smooth before. So I felt that there was a need for adjustments in a few areas. It could be happening for various reasons and we tried to find it out and trying to work things out," Sohel told reporters today.

Sohel feels that not only staying mentally strong during a slump, Liton and Co must find out why they are failing.

"In international cricket your performance graph will not always be the same. There will be rise and fall and that's the reality. Mentally they have to be prepared so that in these times how they can hold their mental state. Another thing is that why they are failing, they need to find out and train appropriately so that the next time they play, there is improvement being shown," he said.

Afif Hossain too had been struggling with consistency and could not deliver performances in the recent tour of West Indies. Sohel informed that skill and fitness were key areas.

"It's not just Liton, those who are here, we sat with all of them. What areas they personally want to work on, where they want to improve in terms of skill, those things were discussed. Fitness too. The Premier League is coming up and of course many players perform there. But our thinking is that those that are in the periphery of the national side, should be able to always prepare for international matches. The matches they play in the league, an affect [from Bangladesh Tigers camp] should be there too," Sohel said.