Litton working very hard on his game, says Bangladesh batting coach Hemp

Bangladesh may have dominated the first T20I against Zimbabwe and won by eight wickets, but one of the worries for the team will be the form of Litton Das, who has been struggling for runs. 

The Tigers' batting coach David Hemp though backed the under-fire opener to come good and said he was "working very hard on his game".

"The key thing for us is he is continuously trying to get better and come through that (bad phase). Players go through phases where they cannot score runs and go through patches where they are not as fluent. He is working through that at the moment," Hemp told the media on Saturday. 

The second T20I will be played on Sunday at the same venue, the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, and Litton will have a very quick turnaround to get things right.

Litton was dismissed for just one run off a peach of a delivery by pacer Blessing Muzarabani that moved off the surface and rattled his stumps and Hemp tried to explain the difficulties of playing as an opener against the new ball. 

"I think (opening) is a very difficult job. The ball is new and sometimes it nips around. Just the last night and there were too many balls that nipped back or nipped around," Hemp explained.

While Litton's form remained a worry, the batting of the other opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim was a big positive as he became only the second Bangladesh batter score a half-century on his T20I debut.

Tanzid smashed eight fours and two sixes in a 47-ball 67 on his T20I debut and managed to impress on his first audition for the Bangladesh squad that will head to the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies next month. 

"Tanzid is someone who is continuously looking to evolve and improve his game and that's fantastic from a coaching point of view. He works really hard and obviously thinks ahead about his game and how he can get better and that's all we ask players to do," Hemp expressed.

"I think in terms of his development and progress, he is growing every week and every month. He had an exposure in the 50-over World Cup and I've seen him in the HP program," Hemp continued. 

"He is now obviously making better decisions more consistently. He's got room for improvement but it is refreshing to see young players coming and playing to their strengths and trying to move forward. Certainly, at the moment he is heading in the right direction," Hemp added.

Tanzid played several eye-catching strokes during his knock but the fact that he was given as many as three reprieves by Zimbabwe blemished his efforts. The left-hander, who has replaced Soumya Sarker at the top of the order, was dropped on three and four runs respectively before reaching his fifty in 36 balls. He got another life after his fifty. 

As things stand, it seems that Tanzid will get the nod to become the third opening option in the Tigers squad for the World Cup ahead of Parvez Hossain Emon who was rewarded with a call-up following his impressive run-scoring in the recently concluded Dhaka Premier League. Soumya and Liton Das are the other two likely options. 

Tanzid has played 15 ODIs of the Tigers and has amassed 263 runs, including two half-centuries. He had a taste of the big stage when he played all nine matches for Bangladesh in last year's ODI World Cup where he scored 145 runs at an average of 16.11 but left a lot to be desired as he very often threw his wicket away after getting positive starts. He would want to make his mark with a much better return if he gets an opportunity to play in the T20 World Cup.