IND vs BAN | Youngsters need to perform and take more responsibility, asserts Liton Das

Shakib Al Hasan's ban is bound to have a huge cultural effect on Bangladesh cricket for the simple fact that he was the lone cricketer standing on the way of the team being reduced to minnows once again. The preparation for the India series also affected subsequently, and the team is now forced to field a weak XI for the tour. However, Liton Das put on a brave face and tried hard to make the young bunch realise that all is not over.

"Shakib is our best player and we will miss him. But we are looking forward to this series. Anything can happen in cricket. Shakib was injured previously as well and we still played on."We are well prepared. We practised for a couple of days in Bangladesh too. Hopefully, we will adapt and perform well," Das told the media on Thursday, reported Times of India.

"Most of the players in our team are juniors and newcomers. The youngsters have been given a message that they need to perform and take more responsibility. We realize that it's not just the responsibility of the seniors to perform. We are looking forward to this series. We are looking forward to the youngsters to play their natural game," he added.

Bangladesh, in recent times, are the only country who gave India some sort of challenges on the cricket field. However, besides the series win in 2015, India have won almost all close games, and Liton has a view on that. When asked about the same, he shot back, "What kind of question is this?" was Liton's defence before saying: "India have been lucky to win every close game. We have not been good enough to finish matches. We'll try to win those matches."