Litton Das has been named Bangladesh's captain for the remainder of the ODI series against Afghanistan at home following Tamim Iqbal's shock announcement to retire from international cricket on Thursday.
Litton, who has led Bangladesh in the past but only as a stand-in captain, was the vice-captain for the ODI series against Afghanistan. It is understood that he will only be a stopgap captain, for the rest of this series, and Shakib Al Hasan is the frontrunner to become captain of the ODI side to go with his leadership roles in Tests and T20Is.
Back in December 2022, Litton stood in as ODI captain during India's tour of Bangladesh when Tamim was out with an injury, and led his team to a 2-1 series win. He also led Bangladesh to a Test-match win over Afghanistan the only time he was captain of that side, in June this year, when Shakib was out with a finger injury. Litton has also led in one T20I, a heavy defeat to New Zealand in Auckland in April 2021.
On Thursday, a day before the second ODI against Afghanistan in Chattogram and just three months out from the ODI World Cup in India, Tamim announced his retirement from international cricket in an emotional press meet.
"This is the end for me," Tamim said. "I have given my best. I have tried my best. I am retiring from international cricket from this moment. Yesterday against Afghanistan was my last international game. It was not a sudden decision. I was thinking about the different reasons. I don't want to mention here. I have spoken to my family members about it. I thought this is the right time for me to retire from international cricket."
Afghanistan lead the ODI series 1-0, after winning the rain-affected opening match by 17 runs. The second ODI will be played on Saturday.
More to follow...