Wanted to bat at least till the 35th over: Liton

Bangladesh batter Liton Das's scintillating knock of 136 runs proved pivotal as the Tigers thrashed Afghanistan by 88 runs at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today to secure the three-match ODI series 2-0 with a game in hand.

Liton is known for the elegance with which he bats. But the batter has always struggled with consistency and garnered criticism for his inability to convert his starts into something meaningful.

Despite being in tremendous form with the bat in recent times in red-ball cricket, Liton was unable to carry his form to the limited-overs formats.

However, his magnificent ton today, filled with exquisite strokeplay, showed signs of good things to come. He also took the least number of innings to score five centuries among Bangladeshi batters. Liton scored his fifth ODI ton playing in his 49th innings.

"In the first match, probably because of the change of the format [from Test to ODI], things didn't go well," Liton said during the presentation ceremony following the game.  

"But as an ODI top-order batter, I always have a mindset of batting at least till the 35th over and I'm glad that I could do so today," the right-handed batter added.

Liton today starred in a 202-run third-wicket stand with Mushfiqur Rahim, which is also now the highest third-wicket partnership for Bangladesh in ODIs. It is also the fifth-highest stand for Bangladesh for any wicket.

"Partnership with Mushfiqur bhai was definitely pleasing. We already have had a lot of partnerships in the past, so there was good chemistry today on the pitch," he concluded.

Following the victory, Bangladesh climbed to the top of the ICC Super League Points Table as captain Tamim Iqbal showered praise on his teammates during the presentation ceremony.

"It was amazing to see Liton and Mushfiqur's partnership. I'm really happy how they played," Bangladesh skipper said while crediting Taskin Ahmed's crucial effort with the ball [2-31].

"Taskin has become one of our break-through bowlers now. Whenever I need a wicket, I call Taskin, and he delivers," he added.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi stated the indiscipline in the field has cost them the match.

"Today, things didn't go as we planned. There were some extra runs that cost us. But we will try to rectify this in the next match," Hashmatullah said.