‘Back then I played with a free mind’

Bangladesh batsman Soumya Sarkar was just a 22-year-old when he played the 2015 World Cup in Australia. Having just made his debut a few months earlier, he was then taken into the squad and he did not have the pressure to deliver but this time as one of the senior members of the side, he will have to play his A game for Bangladesh to assert control in the coveted tournament.

He had recently just returned to the ODI side after good showing in domestic circuit. For Soumya the difference between now and then is the pressure that he will have to undertake. "I was very new [to international cricket] back then. If I get the opportunity to play then I have to strategize and this time the plans will be different," the left-hander reiterated.

"Back then, as a junior player, I played with a free mind but maybe I won't play that way this time around. There will be pressure. I will try to use the experience I gathered in international cricket," he added.

The thing about Soumya is that it is his free-flowing style that can turn the match in Bangladesh's favour. It had happened in the past and for Soumya the biggest challenge will be to find the right balance to keep his flow and deal with the pressure of responsibility. "I will try to have the belief and strength I showed in the prior World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy."

"What I am practicing now takes time. I am trying to make sure that even if I don't get [the execution] 100 percent, it should be a 99 percent. That's what I have been working on and I am batting for long hours," he said about his effort to make sure he has good preparation heading into the World Cup.