Liton’s time is now

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better." – Samuel Beckett

That is the story of one Liton Das' career so far as the right-handed opener etched his name into the record books with a breathtaking 176 from 143 balls.

The innings was glittered with 16 boundaries and eight sixes and took Das to the highest individual score by a Bangladesh batsman in one-day internationals (ODIs).

It came just a few days after Liton's opening partner Tamim Iqbal had set a new record of 158 and Liton looked good to get a double century.

That might have also been achieved if a full 50 overs were played but rain played spoilsport and decreased the number of overs to 43-a-side.

What was once again notable from Liton was the way he built his innings and accelerated afterwards.

There was hardly a shot out of aggression as Liton caressed, timed and placed every boundary to perfection.

Against a bowling attack posing little to no threat, Liton knew all he had to do was play copybook cricket and the runs would come.

There were the odd chances where things could have gone south as in the last ball of the 16th over, Liton survived an lbw shout as the umpire kept put, but replays and ball tracking showed the ball to crash on to Liton's leg stump.

Then there were the three dropped catches of which two were absolute sitters, but those came after Liton had reached triple figures and rain had curtailed the game.

All eight of Liton's sixes came after the rain interruption and the ones he played on the leg side oozed with elegance.

Finally fulfilling on early promise

When Liton had first burst onto the scene in 2015, he was already tearing it up in the domestic circuit and had an average of around 50.

Elegant, technically correct, and a natural timer of the ball, Liton was earmarked to be the next big thing in Bangladesh cricket.

But as has been the case of the last few years, the players that had shown glimpses of their potential failed to live up to their lofty expectations.

Liton would look good while he was in, only to get out in the most outrageous of manners at times, much akin to Mohammad Ashraful.

Liton had openly admitted that there was a problem and that was his decision-making.

Being a batsman of his talent, Liton has no shortage of shots, but rather quite the opposite.

He has too many options to play at a particular ball and sometimes that led to his dismissal.

That is something that he has been working on over the last few months and Liton has explained that marriage has also helped him settle down.

Prior to this series against Zimbabwe, Liton had only one ODI ton, although that came in the 2017 Asia Cup final against a world-class India bowling line-up.

Liton was the best batsman from both sides on show that day and one expected him to carry on his form from there.

But that didn't happen as his average hovered around the mid-20s.

In contrast, he was still piling on the runs in domestic cricket as he scored over 5000 first-class runs with an average of 48.54.

Something had to give and his two centuries against Zimbabwe so far have once again shown just how great he can be.

Liton has all the shots, and perhaps on talent, is the best batsman in Bangladesh currently.

Yes, better than Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal, who are far more accomplished that the 25-year-old.

But age and time are on Liton's side, despite him being in the international circuit for half a decade.

And we cannot forget that this Zimbabwe bowling attack is not the best in the world, but getting runs, and big runs at the top of the order is what is and has been expected of Liton Das.

With a bit of experience and a clearer mindset, Liton finally seems to be coming of age and fulfilling his potential.

The ODI average has also gone past 30 after his last innings and one can expect it to be around 40 if he can keep his form and focus up.

Many have questioned whether the next crop of players after the Tamim's and Mushfiq's can be as good as them, if not better and Liton is currently ticking all those boxes.

Outgoing captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has called Liton one of the best and most difficult batsman to bowl at and it is perhaps poetic justice that Liton delivered in Mashrafe's final game as captain.

His batting has also meant that Bangladesh are getting good starts at the top of the order and that bodes well for the future as Bangladesh cricket is in transition and in need of new heroes.

It's time for Liton Das to stand up, be counted, and be that hero.