Bangladesh batsman Soumya Sarkar doesn’t like to tamper his game plan to chase a good average or strike rate.
In Bangladesh cricket, the discussion over numbers, particularly of strike rate and average of the batsmen, had come as a recent trend.
But left-handed batsman Soumya is not concerned of such discussions, rather he keeps his mindset intact and fetches result for the team giving merit to the situation when he is batting in the middle.
Soumya made the statement while appearing in the second episode of Dhaka Tribune’s online sports show DT Locker Room alongside another Bangladesh batsman Liton Das
The show was streamed live Tuesday night on the facebook pages of Dhaka Tribune and Sports Tribune.
“I always target to score four, and not one. What happens is, going to play one sometimes makes you lose opportunity in bad deliveries, so I target scoring fours so that I do not miss a bad ball. Missing a bad ball can be followed with two good deliveries, so that builds pressure when you are batting. I never think much of average or strike rate. I try to focus on my game plan and when I get success from it, I get a good feeling,” said Soumya.
Soumya had a flying debut for Bangladesh just ahead of the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand but it was at home in the following months that he had displayed his mettle, particularly in 50-over cricket.
Starting with the series against Pakistan and followed by series’ against India and South Africa, Soumya scored big with one unbeaten hundred and three half-centuries which he had failed to convert, despite getting close to the 100-run milestone.
However, the 27-year old from Satkhira started losing track going into the third year getting irregular in the national fold, and it was very recently that he started paving his way back.
“I had started with the World Cup 2015 but it was followed with series against big teams at home like with Pakistan, India and South Africa. I had played well in those series and it had boosted my confidence. In 2016, we had played a lot of T20Is and honestly I was not used to with the format and had struggled. I started questioning myself at that point and had shuffled my game plans, that I will have to be more aggressive in T20s. But now I feel those things were wrong and that I should stick to my nature. Ups and downs is part of a career but at the moment I am trying to stay on the wicket more and play the ball as it comes,” Soumya explained.
“The first two matches against Pakistan, I got dismissed after getting set. Tamim (Iqbal) bhai had scored centuries in those two games. So I thought that I am getting the start and if I can manage to stay in the middle with Tamim bhai, that would get the team a bigger total. Ahead of the third game, head coach [Chandika] Hathurusingha had told me that he could feel I will score in the game. I unusually do not go out from the field while fielding but in that game Hathurusingha had told me to come out for five overs as it will give me some rest before I go to bat. But I did not break my norm and he did not talk to me before I was going to bat. When I came back to the dressing room scoring the hundred, I started thinking how could he know that I will score big – was it my body language or something,” he added.
Along with many other national cricketers, Soumya has been doing his part standing besides those struggling as the country deals with coronavirus pandemic.
The left-handed batsman had put one of his bats up for auction and raised Tk5 lakhs to provide help to the people affected by the situation.
“Intention to put the bat on auction was to inspire at least a few in the society to come forward and help the people in need. I believe there are at least a few people who likes me or follows me, so if they see me making an effort to help the people who are struggling due to this coronavirus situation I believe they will try to do their part too. Besides putting the bat for auction, I have done other things too,” said Soumya.
“We were hit by cyclone Amphan a few days back and this has caused scarcity of fresh water in our area, so I am trying to help out on that at the moment,” he informed.
