Since the introduction of Soumya Sarker, Bangladesh have not only found a brilliant free flowing stroke-maker at the top of the order but someone who can transform the whole team with his positive mindset. But the impressive 22-year-old batsman is often accused of lack of temperament that led to premature finishes of many of his promising innings.’ However, the southpaw took up responsibility when he led Bangladesh to a thumping victory with his usual aggression, scoring 88 not out off just 79 balls, to chase down the visitors 162 in the second match of the three-match one-day international series on Sunday.
Soumya scored 13 boundaries in his innings, although he got favour from lady luck on a couple of occasions, but his scintillating stroke-making not only pleased the crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium but must have also raised the appetite of more such innings from him.
But it was the only six in his innings that proved the icing to his batting. He slog-swept fiercely against Imran Tahir to put the ball beyond the boundary to take his team home and clinch the man of the match award.
That sort of batting must have made the Tiger fans nostalgic, remembering another remarkably talented Bangladeshi batsman, Mohammad Ashraful, who could not translate his talent most of the time in the international arena.
Ironically Soumya broke the record of Ashraful’s 87 by a run to score the highest individual innings by a Bangladeshi against the Proteas.
This win is also the second win for the Tigers against this opponent and they won the first one thanks to that innings of Ashraful back in 2007 World Cup.
Soumya looks to dictate terms against any opposition irrespective of their background and it was no different against the Proteas at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Soumya, who made his debut in Dhaka against Zimbabwe in the fifth and final one-day international, last year, made his mark in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this year.
The man from Satkhira was a surprise choice in the team but his presence at top of the order caused a vibrant change in attitude for the side as his fluent stroke-making not only gave them an early impetus but also confidence.
The fearless attitude of the Tigers helped them reach their first ever quarter-finals in the competition. Soumya’s free-flowing batting style continued after the tournament and that played a big part in Bangladesh’s back-to-back series wins against Asian neighbours Pakistan and India.
Till the Indian series the left-hander played 13 innings and in only one of those innings had a single figure score.
But despite his impressive batting average of 40.58 and strike rate of 98.58, he scored just three fifties and a century before the second ODI against South Africa.
His century against Pakistan was a treat to watch as he scored 127 runs off just 113 balls with 13 boundaries and six sixes that not only confirmed a comfortable victory for his side but also proved his ability to play big innings.
However, his batting graph showed that he got out nine times between 20 to 40 runs out of his 14 innings. When in most cases, they did not do any damage for him, his good-looking small cameos proved to be not good enough against quality oppositions in difficult circumstances.
-With New Age input
