Bangladesh's wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das has been ruled out of the Asia Cup due to viral fever and won't be able to join the team for the continental tournament. Right-handed batter Anamul Haque Bijoy has been called in as his replacement for the multi-nation tournament.
Litton is down with viral fever and the Shakib Al Hasan-led side will have to look for an ideal replacement as the Bangla Tigers take on defending champions Sri Lanka in their opening fixture on Thursday, August 31.
Bijoy, who primarily bats as an opener or in the top-three has featured in 44 ODIs for Bangladesh and scored 1254 runs including three hundreds. The batter made his last ODI appearance in December 2022 against India.
"He (Anamul) has been in the runs in domestic cricket and we have continued to monitor him in the Bangladesh Tigers programme. He was always in our consideration. Due to Litton's unavailability, we needed a top-order batter who could keep wicket and Anamul got the nod," the BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu was quoted as saying in a BCB-issued press release.
The finalists of the 2012 and the 2018 editions are going to be in a spot of bother as Litton has been one of their prolific run-getters in the 50-overs format recently. He has aggregated 878 runs in 25 innings since 2022 and is the team's leading run-scorer in One-Day Internationals.
Bangladesh are placed in Group B alongside six-time Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. In the absence of Litton, the onus of scoring runs will most likely be shouldered by the veteran batter Mushfiqur Rahim and he would hope for some support from the young bunch. The squad has plenty of young Turks in the form of Mohammad Naim, Towhid Hridoy, and Tanzid Hasan among others and they will have to showcase their talent.
