Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja showered praise on Litton Das for his outstanding century on the opening day of the second Test at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, while also criticising Pakistan’s tactics against the batter.

Litton played a magnificent knock of 126 amid a batting collapse to rescue Bangladesh from a difficult situation. The wicketkeeper-batter stood firm with the tailenders and guided the hosts to 278 after they had looked in danger of being dismissed for under 150.

Speaking on his personal vlog after the day’s play, Ramiz described Litton’s innings as one of the finest he had seen in recent years.

“I have seen such batting after ages because this innings had different phases. In this, first, he had to play for himself, then for the team. Coming onto a seaming pitch, he established himself, and it felt like he was doing an extended net session,” Ramiz said.

“He looked uninterested. He would go to the crease, and he had so much time that he would comfortably stop the ball, hit a boundary on the same length, and on the same length, while playing with the tailenders, he would pick up singles,” he added.

However, the former Pakistan captain questioned the field placements used against Litton. According to Ramiz, Pakistan allowed the batter to settle too comfortably instead of forcing him to take risks.

“When Litton Das is playing with complete control, then they should have bowled to him with normal bowling and a normal field setup. Because look, if the field had been inside, maybe he would have taken a chance to hit over the top and got out in the process,” Ramiz observed.

Pakistan skipper Shan Masood frequently spread the field to the boundary whenever Litton was on strike. Despite refusing singles 26 times to shield the tailenders, Litton continued to score freely and regularly pierced the field for boundaries, even when eight fielders were stationed near the ropes as he approached his century.

At stumps on the opening day, Pakistan reached 21 without loss in reply to Bangladesh’s 278. Bangladesh will look to make early breakthroughs with the ball on the second day of the Test.