Is Afghanistan More Troublesome For Litton Das Compared To India, Pakistan And Sri Lanka?

Litton Das after dismissal vs AFG (Source: AFP)

Litton Das was in great form in the lead-up to the Asia Cup 2025, and it looked like he would dominate in the continental tournament as well. The batter also started with 59 off 39 balls against Hong Kong, but now has notched two low scores against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

The batter at least scored 28 against the Lankans with four boundaries, but against Afghanistan, he looked out of sorts with 9 runs off 11 balls. Thus, he was struggling to find his rhythm and was eventually removed by Noor Ahmad. Therefore, not only did he fail to score runs, but his strike-rate was also below 100, which is not often the case with Litton Das in T20Is.

So, does Litton have a special problem with Rashid Khan compared to other top Asia Cup teams? Let's find out.

Litton Das In T20Is Against Major Asian Powers

If we compare Litton Das' T20I stats against Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, the Bangladesh captain has the lowest strike-rate against Rashid Khan and his boys. His strike-rate against India is brilliant, as it is close to 150, while against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, too, it is over 120. However, against Afghanistan, it falls quite a lot and is 108.25, which is almost 18 percentage points less than his career strike-rate.

His average against Afghans is slightly better than what it is against India and Pakistan, but there is not a big difference. So, if we look at the average and strike-rate combined, Litton Das clearly has delivered less impactful performances in T20Is against Afghanistan than against other big teams of Asia Cup 2025.

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Why Litton Das Has Struggled Against Afghanistan?

So, what is it about Afghanistan that has helped them put more restrictions on Litton Das than other teams? The answer lies in the spin-dominant nature of Afghanistan's bowling. If we compare his T20I numbers against spinners and pacers, one sees a big difference in his average and strike-rate.

Comparison Of Litton Das' Numbers In T20Is - Pace vs Spin

Litton Das has scored his runs at a strike-rate of 117.18 against spin, while it jumps to 133.81 against pacers. There is also a difference of six percentage points in average, and the Bangladesh captain also tends to hit a lot more boundaries against pacers than spinners. Now, India has turned to a spin-heavy attack in this Asia Cup, but generally, they prefer to rely on a balanced bowling unit in T20Is with equal emphasis on tweakers and pacers.

Teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka also use the same strategy, while Afghanistan always try to attack the best batters of opposition teams with their world-class spinners. They hardly play three frontline seamers in their T20I XI, and thus, the spinners more often than not play a dominant role. As a result, Litton Das' weakness against spin proved fatal for him against the Afghan boys, and it was evident in the Asia Cup clash as well.

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