2024-09-03 04:38:20
Published: 20:48, 1 September 2024
Strong criticism has not abated. There have also been cases of exclusion from the team. There are also examples of returning without doing anything. Such ups and downs are a regular occurrence in the career of cricketers. Liton Das’s career has gone through nothing like that for a long time.
But every time Lytton came back he made his position known in a big way. ‘And Lytton Das is painting a Mona Lisa here!’ His batting so impressed Ian Bishop that it drew comparisons to the Mona Lisa painting. The Mona Lisa is the immortal creation of Leonardo da Vinci combining sweetness, beauty and depth. Lytton’s batting of 22 yards reminded Bishop of that creation. When Lytton does something big, that Mona Lisa of Vinci comes to the fore. As it came in 22 yards of Rawalpindi.
He painted a remarkable century with leg cramps. Fourth Test century on the career canvas. By playing an innings of 138 runs, he brought Bangladesh out of the ruins with ease. He set a world record of 165 runs for the seventh wicket with Mirage on the way to playing this century innings. Where Mirage’s contribution is 78.
Three of Lytton’s four Test career centuries have come on such a difficult stage, in disastrous conditions. He has made it a habit to pull his team from the brink and meet his own milestones. Statistics show that three of the four hundreds Liton scored were the team’s score below fifty. In such a situation, there is not a single batsman who has scored three centuries after falling below five in the batting order. The right-handed batsman became the first batsman in the world to do such a feat.
Today when Lytton came into bat, the team’s runs were 26. 5 no wickets. Soon after his joining, Shakib returned to the dressing room. From there, he made a partnership of 165 runs with Mirage. Mirage returned for 78 runs but Lytton turned the innings into a century. He has done something like this before. This is his second century against Pakistan. Earlier in 2021, Bangladesh lost 4 wickets for 49 runs when they scored their first century. Lytton dropped to five and played an innings of 114 runs.
The batsman scored a career-best 141 against Sri Lanka in Mirpur the following year. Bangladesh lost 5 wickets for 24 runs. Down to six, Liton’s magical century saved Bangladesh. Nothing happened today. Lyton’s bat smiled once more. The scoreboard of Bangladesh also smiled. Bangladesh is painting the dream of another victory on the soil of Pakistan. The match is still two days away. Nothing is impossible if Pakistan can be suppressed.
Yasin/Aminul