Is Litton the best wicketkeeper-batter in the world right now?

It was another Test match and another lit ton from Litton Das, who weaved his magic with his bat all over Mirpur's Sher-E-Bangla National cricket stadium against Sri Lanka on Monday's first day of the second Test.

When he came out to bat, Bangladesh were in tatters at 24-5 and looking at a total below 100. 

But in no time, the classy right-hander was calming the nerves of the fans and his teammates with his strokeplay. 

On what looked like a difficult pitch, Litton batted like it was a batter's paradise and killed off the venom the Sri Lankan bowlers were bowling with early on.

Mushfiqur Rahim, the batter he formed a 253-run partnership with and remained unbeaten on his best-ever Test score of 135, needed time to settle in and struggled with the bounce of the pitch from time to time. 

But Litton's innings and batting also gave his more senior and accomplished partner more confidence as the innings and partnership grew and Mushfiq also completed his century.

Many already believe that Litton is the best batter in the Bangladesh team, and he has been the highest run-scorer over the last two years in Tests. 

But is he also the best wicketkeeper-batter in the world? Let's dive a bit deeper into the matter. 

The competition

Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan, Jos Buttler of England and Rishabh Pant of India are considered as three of the best wicketkeeper-batters in the world.

Litton has scored 500 runs in Tests this year with an average of 62.5 while Rizwan has 140 runs with an average of 46.6, Buttler has only played one Test and scored 11 runs, and Pant has 329 runs with an average of 54.8 this year.

Two of Litton's three Test tons have come in this year while Rizwan and Pant have one ton each.

Obviously, there are more factors to the quality of a player than just stats, such as the quality of the opposition, and the game situation.

The hundred that Pant scored against South Africa this year in the third Test will go down as one of the great Test centuries given the quality of the bowling attack and the conditions.

Similarly, Mohammad Rizwan's century against Australia was also one that can be rated higher than the centuries Litton has scored this year.

Buttler unfortunately, despite being one of England's greatest white-ball batters, has not managed to replicate that form into the most elite format of cricket and isn't a regular with the wicketkeeping gloves. 

There is no doubt about Litton's talent and ability and the fact he's being considered with the likes of such players shows just how good he is and where he can go if he keeps his form up. 

For Bangladesh cricket, what will matter most is how many of those contributions come in games that help the team get a positive result.

Thankfully for Bangladesh cricket and Litton, as long as the runs keep coming, so too should the results.