Litton looking at IPL as a 'learning process'

Bangladesh opener Litton Das is not losing his sleep over securing a place in the Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI. Instead, he considers playing in the Indian Premier League a "learning process".

KKR brought Litton Das for INR 50 Lakhs but his place in the Playing XI is not confirmed considering the fact that the franchise has several foreign openers like Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy to partner with their local opener Narayan Jagadeesan. On top of that, they also have the option of bringing in Sunil Narine at the top of the order.

Litton, the in-form right handed batsman who is expected to arrive back in Bangladesh before the start of their tour of Ireland scheduled in the first week of May, left for Kolkata on Sunday evening to join the KKR camp.

"I don't know if I'm going to play there (for KKR) and there's no guarantee of performance there, it's just a learning process," Litton told reporters at the Shah Jalal International Airport on Sunday before departing for Kolkata.

"Of course I will stay here for 20-25 days and I will try to gather ideas about all the fields so that it can help in future," he said, hoping to gain knowledge about the Indian conditions building up to the 2023 ICC World Cup, scheduled in October-November this year.

"As far as preparation is concerned, I have practiced and I have been playing for a long time now. Let us see what happens," he said. "I think it's an opportunity because I've never participated in such an event and this is the first time for me. Of course it feels good and I'm happy."

Litton mentioned that he does not have any big goal in mind going into the IPL but added that he is confident he can do well if he is picked in the playing XI.

"There is no such a goal. If there is an opportunity than I will try to play good cricket. As an opener I've to confident everywhere. But the team is different. I've never played any franchise league. If they play me, I will try my best."

Litton added that he is not worried that he will be missing Shakib Al Hasan in the KKR dressing room after the all-rounder opted to make himself unavailable due to family reasons.

"See, it's a different story now. Of course it would be great if he (Shakib) could go there. It would be good because we are players from the same country and would have shared the same dressing room."