This is a break from the norm. Bangladesh usually play with a Kookaburra ball. That is the brand they use for home internationals and it was the brand used in the Tests against Pakistan as well. India, however, use SG balls for Test cricket and there is significant difference between the two.
“The ball will be a different one in India,” Litton said. “It is a little harder to play against the SG ball. The Kookaburra ball is easier to play when it gets old. It is the opposite with the SG ball. It is harder to get away against the old ball when it’s the SG.”
The white-ball players are reportedly training with Kookaburra balls as the T20Is that follow the Tests in India will be played with the Kookaburra.
“We played good cricket against Pakistan but it is already in the past,” Litton said. “It is important for us to look forward. We will need your (media’s) help. It would be helpful if you don’t talk about the Pakistan series. As a player, it is already in the past for me.”
There is typically a lot of focus from the Bangladesh fans on matches that their team plays against India and Pakistan and these games are coming back-to-back as well. The only previous occasion when Bangladesh played back-to-back series against Pakistan and India was in 2015 but both were at home, unlike this time when both series are taking place overseas. Litton understood that fans will be watching with great expectations but he refused to see it as a burden.
“It is inspiring that people will know you if you do well,” he said. “There’s nothing better than that. I don’t think it is pressure. We are improving in Tests, so we have to become more consistent in the format. That’s the main challenge.”
Litton’s role in the team as a lower-middle-order batter suits his natural game, where sometimes he ends up with the tail and has no choice but to go for his shots. But he did show he had other gears as well, batting for nearly six hours to dig Bangladesh out of a hole in Rawalpindi.
“I have to take responsibility now,” he said. “It is the right time. I have been playing for ten years, so there has been some experience. I try to score off deliveries that I believe are there to hit. Scoring runs is more important these days. I think I bat in the same way that most batters approach the game.
Litton realises that the way he plays comes with a bit of risk but it is also how he’s found success. “If it gives me more chance to get out, it also gives me a lot of opportunities to score runs,” he said. “I usually get to bat with (Mehidy Hasan) Miraz. Sometimes I bat with Shakib bhai (Shakib Al Hasan) or Mushfiq bhai (Mushfiqur Rahim). If I don’t play my shots, the team score won’t go anywhere. I want to play like this. I try to play the way I bat in training.”
Bangladesh are scheduled to depart for India on September 15 to play two Tests in Chennai (September 19 to 23) and Kanpur (September 27 to October 1), both part of the World Test Championship. The three T20Is that follow will be held in Gwalior (October 6), Delhi (October 9) and Hyderabad (October 12).
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
