Only Liton can unlock his potential, says Sriram
Liton Das' World Cup campaign ended in a whimper as he threw away a good start against Australia in Pune in an innings that symbolised his overall performance in the showpiece event.
Liton started cautiously but made up for the slow start with a number of delightful boundaries to reach 36 off 44 balls.
The stage was set for Liton to cash in on his start on a docile pitch but the right-hander squandered the opportunity by half-heartedly hitting a looped up ball from Adam Zampa straight into the hands of Marnus Labuschagne at long on.
Although disappointing, Liton's soft dismissal was hardly surprising as the 29-year-old has a habit of losing his wicket with careless strokes after getting set.
This tendency has kept Liton from fulfilling his potential in international cricket and Bangladesh team's technical consultant for the World Cup Sridharan Sriram feels that Liton himself has to find a way to break this vicious cycle.
"I think Liton's got to battle with himself. I think he's got tremendous potential to be one of the great batters in the world but he sometimes falls short of his own expectations. So, it's a battle that he needs to fight with himself on how he can reach the potential that he knows he has got," Sriram told The Daily Star before the team's match against Australia today.
Liton ended the World Cup as Bangladesh's second highest run-scorer with 284 runs in nine innings.
The opener hit a couple of half-centuries in the World with a highest score of 76 against England but couldn't make use of the batting friendly conditions in India.
Liton is no longer the young up-and-comer in the Bangladesh team as he has already spent around eight years in the international arena and has even led the team in all three formats.
Sriram is still optimistic that Liton will eventually find a way to unlock his potential and flourish in international cricket.
"There is no shortage of talent in Liton but some people achieve it sooner while some take more time. I just hope in Liton's case it's just the matter of time before he unlocks his potential and becomes a match winner on a consistent basis."
Just like Liton, Bangladesh's journey in the World Cup also ended in disappointment as they lost to Australia by eight wickets in a mostly one-sided match.
Bangladesh posted 306-8 on a ground where they needed a lot more to pose some challenge to the Aussies.
Mitch Marsh hit his second century in the tournament as Australia won the match with 32 balls to spare.
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