Litton Das ruled out of Asia Cup, replaced by Anamul Haque

Pallekele (Agencies): Litton Das has been ruled out of Asia Cup 2023 with a viral fever.

The illness prevented him from travelling to Sri Lanka with the rest of the squad, and he has not yet recovered.

He has been replaced by Anamul Haque in a like-for-like swap of top-order batters who can keep wickets.

Anamul, 30, last played an ODI for Bangladesh in December 2022 against India. In all, he has represented Bangladesh in 44 ODIs, in which he has scored 1254 runs at an average of 30.58, which includes five fifties and three centuries.

In all those matches, he has either opened or come in at No.3. Anamul will serve as a back-up keeper for Mushfiqur Rahim and will join the team later on Wednesday.

“He [Anamul] has been in the runs in domestic cricket and we have continued to monitor him in the Bangladesh Tigers programme.

He was always in our consideration,” Minhajul Abedin, Chairman of the national selection panel, said. “Due to Litton’s unavailability, we needed a top-order batter who could keep wicket and Anamul got the nod.”

Litton’s absence could prove to be a big blow for Bangladesh, who are chasing their first Asia Cup title. The 28-year-old has been Bangladesh’s highest run-getter in ODIs since the start of 2022 with 878 runs in 25 innings at an average of 41.80.

He has scored seven fifties and a century during this period, with a highest score of 136 against Afghanistan in February last year.

Bangladesh arrived in Sri Lanka for their Asia Cup campaign on August 27. They are placed in group B and kick off their tournament against Sri Lanka on August 31 in Pallekele. They then meet Afghanistan on September 3 in Lahore.