‘If we just leave Litton be Litton, he will show the best of him’

It has been a difficult time for Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das. He got out without bothering the scorers in the first and second ODIs against Sri Lanka, on both occasions to left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka, and got dropped for the third ODI.

He went back to the Dhaka Premier League (DPL), the country's premier List A tournament, but struggled to find form there as well. In the first innings of the first Test, he looked in great touch before being castled by familiar foe Lahiru Kumara.

But his mode of dismissal in the second innings raised eyebrows. Probably to negate the movement of left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando, Litton skipped down the track first ball and had a go, only succeeding in getting a lot of elevation and no distance and Angelo Mathews took the catch.

Many on social media termed his moment of madness "the worst shot in Test history". When Litton takes the field on Saturday, all eyes will be on him and Bangladesh assistant coach Nic Pothas said the batter will be back to his best if he is treated like a "human being".

"We have had conversations. Litton is in a good space," Pothas told reporters on Friday.  "The trouble that we generally have is that the pressure on Litton comes from the outside. I think if we just leave Litton to be Litton, I think he'll show you the best of him."

"If we keep jumping on his back in the media and on social media, we forget that just because these guys are very able cricketers and they appear on television, at the root they're still human beings. If we treat them like human beings and allow him to do what's best for him, I promise you he'll show you results," he added.