Ban vs Pak 2026 – Litton Das to bat at No. 5 against Pakistan says Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons

“First of all, it’s so hard to keep. [wicket for] Play 50 overs and then come and start batting,” Simmons said.[Litton] He is also one of the standout players of spin bowling. The middle order was one of our Achilles’ heels. “So he’s going to go there with his experience and his skills, and hopefully we can get what we need there.”

While Bangladesh dropped Jaker Ali and Nurul Hasan, they retained Mahidul Islam Ankon, who batted at number five against West Indies last October. Ankon scored 69 points in three games and barely budged his scoring rate as he looked to cement his place in the side.

Litton last batted fifth in the 2019 ODI World Cup when he scored an unbeaten 94 against West Indies at Taunton. However, he has been ranked in the top four for most of his ODI career. Simmons said he didn’t have to work hard to convince Litton to take the role.

“He was comfortable hitting from anywhere,” Simmons said. "I think he’s become a lot more comfortable with his game and sees it as an opportunity to do what the team needs from him. We didn’t have to convince Lytton of anything. All we asked was ‘this is what the team needs’ and he was willing to do it. He was happy to do anything for the team. He’s happy to do that for us now when he’s captain, so we didn’t have to convince him of anything.”

"We finished well against West Indies and we don’t want to go back from there. The wickets are looking a lot better than they did in that series, so the most important thing is to look at the progression and that’s to bat the way we batted in the last game.”