Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza said Soumya Sarkar’s ability to play big shots and his medium-pace bowling prompted the team management to pick him in the playing XI and make him bat in the No 7 position.
The Tigers have four openers in their squad for the West Indies series and all of them - Tamim Iqbal, Liton Kumar Das, Imrul Kayes and Soumya – are in good touch recently.
Although Tamim returned to the international arena after almost two and a half months following an injury, the left-hander scored a brilliant century in the practice match against the Windies Thursday to show his form.
Questions were circling as to who will open the innings for Bangladesh with Tamim, or which of the openers will be dropped in the first ODI.
Host @BCBtigers went into the first ODI against the @windiescricket with four specialist opening batsmen and created a buzz in the cricketing arena.https://t.co/lrHfBLoP8l#BCBTIGERS #BCB #TIGERS #CRICKET #BANGLADESH #BANGLADESHCRICKET #WINDIES #WESTINDIES #CWI #WEST #INDIES
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) December 9, 2018
But surprisingly, the Tigers chose to pick all four openers in the playing XI in the first match.
The captain explained in the post-match press conference that Soumya’s big-hitting ability was the reason why the team management opted to make him bat at No 7, dropped Mohammad Mithun and Ariful Haque from the middle-order, along with making Imrul bat at No 3 and Liton open with Tamim.
“Soumya can bat in many positions. He can be an opener or bat at No 3, or even can bat at No 6 or 7 as he has the ability to play big shots at No 7. Mithun can also play shots but Soumya can bowl a few overs at the middle if the spinners fail due to dew factor. That’s why we have chosen him. Mithun was a bit unlucky as he was in good form. But we did it for team combination,” Mashrafe informed.
With the World Cup looming on the horizon, the captain believes three of these four will vie for the first three positions in the batting line-up.
1ST ODI
WEST INDIES INNINGS R B
Powell c Rubel b Shakib 10 27
Hope c Miraz b Mashrafe 43 59
Bravo c Tamim b Mashrafe 19 51
Samuels c Liton b Rubel 25 48
Hetmyer b Miraz 6 13
Rovman c Liton b Mashrafe 14 25
Chase c Miraz b Mustafizur 32 38
Paul c Miraz b Mustafizur 36 28
Roach not out 5 8
Bishoo c & b Mustafizur 0 1
Thomas not out 0 2
Extras (lb 3, w2) 5
Total (50 overs) 195/9
Fall Of Wickets
1-29 (Powell), 2-65 (Bravo), 3-78 (Hope), 4-93 (Hetmyer), 5-119 (Rovman), 6-127(Samuels), 7-178 (Chase), 8-194 (Paul), 9-195 (Bishoo)
Bowling
Miraz 10-0-30-1, Shakib 10-0-36-1, Mustafizur 10-0-35-3, Mashrafe 10-0-30-3 (w1), Rubel 10-0-61-1 (w1)
BANGLADESH INNINGS R B
Tamim c Bishoo b Chase 12 24
Liton b Paul 41 57
Imrul b Thomas 4 2
Mushfiq not out 55 70
Shakib c Hope b Rovman 30 26
Soumya c Rovman b Chase 19 13
Mahmudullah not out 14 21
Extras (lb 6, nb 2, w 13) 21
Total (35.1 Overs) 196/5
Fall Of Wickets
1-37 (Tamim), 2-42 (Imrul), 3-89 (Liton), 4-146 (Shakib), 5-175 (Soumya)
Bowling
Roach 6-0-35-0, Chase 9-1-47-2, Thomas 5-0-34-1, Paul 8-0-37-1, Bishoo 6.1-0-30-0, Rovman 1-0-7-1
Bangladesh won by five wickets, lead series 1-0
MoM: Mashrafe bin Mortaza