Litton Das appointed Bangladesh's ODI captain

MIRPUR: Experienced wicketkeeper batter Litton Das has been appointed the ODI captain of the Bangladesh men's cricket team, the president of the country's cricket board, Tamim Iqbal, confirmed on Wednesday.

Das, who is also their T20I captain, succeeds Mehidy Hasan Miraz as the ODI skipper in light of the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) decision to move away from the previously adopted format-centric captaincy structure of its men's cricket team.

BCB President Iqbal, while confirming the development following a meeting with the board of directors at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here, insisted that they felt having two captains instead of three was the right way forward.

He further confirmed that Najmul Hossain Shanto will continue to lead Bangladesh in Tests, while Towhid Hridoy will serve as Das's deputy in both white-ball formats.

"We had three captains across the three formats. I believe, and the board also believes, that having two captains is the right way forward," Tamim told reporters after the meeting.

"There is nothing right or wrong about either approach, but we feel two captains make more sense, one for white-ball cricket and one for red-ball cricket. That's why we've decided to appoint Litton Das as the white-ball captain, while Najmul Hossain Shanto will continue as the red-ball captain.

"Towhid Hridoy will be the white-ball vice-captain, while the red-ball vice-captain remains unchanged (Mehidy is currently the Test vice-captain)."

Notably, Miraz, who was appointed Bangladesh's ODI captain in June last year, failed to meet expectations as he could lead the Tigers to just two victories in 13 matches they played in away conditions since then.

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