Soumya Sarkar, Bangladesh batsman, World Cup 2019 Player Full Profile: Southpaw will look to find form with bat and make impact

A few months prior to the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Soumya Sarkar was handpicked by Bangladesh’s previous coach Chandika Hathurusingha. The youngster was playing a domestic game at the Sher-e-Bangla International Stadium in Mirpur and the national coach was present at that fixture. Hathurusingha was so impressed by some of the shots Sarkar played during that knock that he straightway started grooming him as the third opener for the Australia-bound World Cup squad. [caption id=“attachment_4179243” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Soumya Sarkar. AFP[/caption] Interestingly, he started his batting career as a right-hander but in order to emulate his childhood idols like Brian Lara, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh; Sarkar became a left-hander later in his career. Like many of his teammates in the Bangladesh squad, Sarkar too learnt his early traits at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP), the national sports institute of the country. Along with his aggressive batsmanship, he also bowls some handy medium pace, which is a unique combination in Bangladesh. And in this 2019 World Cup his dual traits can turn out to be handy for Bangladesh. During the 2015 edition of World Cup, the youngster grabbed the limelight when he played some fruitful knocks for Bangladesh batting at No 3. And post that tournament, he had some sort of purple patch in international cricket in the home season. Sarkar was an integral part of the Bangladesh set-up which defeated Pakistan, India and South Africa at home in consecutive ODI series. Batting in the top-order, the left hander notched up 497 runs in nine matches against those three strong opponents, which involved three half centuries and an unbeaten 133 against Pakistan. However, in the past couple of years, Sarkar has lost his mojo significantly. Due to his lack of consistency, he has been in and out of the team and it has affected his game. Nevertheless, in their recent tour of New Zealand, Sarkar scored a 94-ball Test hundred at Hamilton, which is the fastest ton by a Bangladeshi in the longer format. Now he can hope, following that knock his confidence will come back and his career graph will start heading towards the right direction. In England, if the think-tank decides to play three openers in the playing XI, Sarkar will come into the scheme of things. In such a scenario, he should bat at N. 3. Though, in the past, the management has used him in the middle-order as well. But, someone like Sarkar can be best used during the Powerplay overs, when he has the luxury of hitting over the in-field and take the attack to the opposition. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, click here