A heated verbal spat broke out between Mohammad Rizwan and Litton Das on Day 4 of the series-deciding second Test in Sylhet, marking their second major flashpoint of the 2026 Bangladesh-Pakistan Test series. The confrontation occurred during the 72nd over of Pakistan's second innings. Mohammad Rizwan was well-set after crossing his half-century when he halted play to complain about constant movement near the sightscreen. Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das grew frustrated with the delays and openly mocked the Pakistani batter. Litton Das: "Yeh kya kar rhe ho? (What are you doing?)"

Mohammad Rizwan: "Woh dekh wo dekh wo khada hai (Look over there, look, someone is standing there)."

Litton Das: "Udhar kya dekh rahe ho? Idhar batting karo. 50 ho gayi, ab acting shuru ho jayegi. (Why are you looking over there? Bat here. You have reached your 50, now the acting begins)."

Mohammad Rizwan: "Yeh tera kaam hai, mera kaam hai ya umpire ka? (Is this your job, my job, or the umpire's?)" 

Pakistan was chasing a massive fourth-innings target of 437 runs. Mohammad Rizwan (75*) and Salman Ali Agha (71) had stabilized the innings with a gritty 134-run stand. To break their rhythm, Bangladesh needed rapid, high-pressure over-rates. Rizwan's frequent pull-outs due to sightscreen movement directly broke the bowler's stride. With bad light or overcast weather always a threat to play late in the day in the subcontinent, Bangladesh wanted to finish their overs quickly to maximize their chances of securing a historic series whitewash. Litton Das explicitly viewed Rizwan's complaints as a deliberate, unsporting tactic to kill time. 

 

 

Litton Das’ pre-meditated sledge exposes Mohammad Rizwan’s growing reputation issue in home country

The animosity in Sylhet was directly fueled by an incredibly sharp mental trap Litton had laid during the first Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. Rizwan had just concluded a miserable domestic Pakistan Super League (PSL) campaign leading Rawalpindi, where his team suffered eight consecutive losses. He had managed just 204 runs in ten matches at a poor average of 20.40 and a strike rate of 116.57. Media speculation in Pakistan was heavily scrutinising the senior core of the national team under Shan Masood, putting Rizwan's guaranteed inclusion across formats into serious question. During the 38th over, with Pakistan struggling at 121/5 while chasing 268, Rizwan was playing ultra-defensively. Litton purposefully did not look at Rizwan; instead, he spoke loudly to left-arm spinner Taijul Islam in Urdu/Hindi to ensure the stump microphone and the batsman absorbed every word, "They will now play for survival; there is no pressure on them to win. And his reputation is already very bad in that country. If he tries to attack and gets out, he would not be able to return home; his reputation is already very bad there." 

The sledge worked by creating intense cognitive dissonance within Rizwan. Test batsmen rely heavily on automatic reactions. By placing the external threat of public anger and media exile directly into Rizwan's active thought pattern, Litton completely fractured his focus. Rizwan became trapped in a mental loop: he was too frightened to play an aggressive stroke to break the shackles, but too frazzled to remain technically sound. He crawled to a painful 15 runs off 46 balls, completely detached from his usual expressive self. Because Rizwan was entirely focused on avoiding a "rash, attacking shot" that could provoke public backlash back home, his instincts completely froze. He shuffled across his crease and shouldered arms, offering absolutely no shot to a delivery aimed directly at his stumps.