Stand-in skipper Liton Das's form will be in focus as Bangladesh begin their final international assignment of the year – a three-match T20I series against the West Indies – with the series opener taking place at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent on Monday.

The wicketkeeper-batter has had a horrid time in both white-ball formats this year, averaging just 1.20 in five ODIs and 18.25 in 17 T20Is outings.

With the added responsibility of leadership thrust upon him in the absence of regular skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, it will be interesting to see whether the experienced cricketer can inspire both himself and the team during the T20I series after the 3-0 drubbing they received in the preceding ODI series in St Kitts.

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Liton acknowledges ‘tough’ T20 task on Caribbean soil

Liton, who has led the Tigers in this format once before against New Zealand in Auckland in 2021, could not have asked for a better venue to change his fortune as it was this very ground where he scored his lone half-century in white ball cricket this year, an unbeaten 54 against Afghanistan during a T20 World Cup match.

Just like Liton, Bangladesh will also be looking for a change of fortunes in T20Is against West Indies, having lost their previous five meetings against the Caribbean side with their last win coming in 2018, when the Tiger won by 36 runs in the second match of a three-match series they lost 2-1.

To end this cycle of disappointment, Bangladesh would be hoping that Soumya Sarkar, who hit a run-a-ball 73 in the third ODI against West Indies, will replicate his recent good performances in the format.

The southpaw was named the player-of-the-tournament in the recently-concluded Global Super League held in Guyana after finishing as the highest scorer with 188 runs for champions Rangpur Riders.

"I came here [Caribbean] few days earlier. I played in the GSL, it was a good opportunity for me, I had a good tournament," Soumya said ahead of the series-opener.

"It's not about which is the big team and which is the small team. It's about which team plays better for 40 overs on the field. If we can do well in all three departments, batting, bowling and fielding, we believe that we can easily beat them.

"They are a good team in T20s. But rather than focusing on that, we need to focus on giving our best. That's how we can win the match," he said, adding that he hoped the bowlers will bounce back from their poor showing in the ODI series.

Meanwhile, West Indies have had an up and down year in T20Is, winning 14 off 24 games and failing to qualify for the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup they jointly hosted with the USA.

The hosts will get the services of their T20 stars like Rovman Powell, Brandon King, Johnson Charles and Nicholas Pooran in the series and will hope to carry the winning momentum from the 50-over series into the shortest format.

The match is scheduled to start at 06:00 am Bangladesh time and will be telecast live on T Sports.