Bangladesh cricket’s Soumya fallacy

On Thursday, when it suddenly began to rain in Chattogram during the Bangladesh team's optional training session, all the players ran for cover, except one.

Soumya Sarkar, who got out for three against Sri Lanka in the first ODI, didn't want to leave the nets and continued training with a look of determination etched in his face.

The one bad innings against Sri Lanka had seemingly made everyone on social media forget about his previous ODI knock, a marvelous 169 against New Zealand, and the trolls once again began saying that he is in the national team only because of head coach Chandika Hathurusingha's preference.

This has been the perception surrounding Soumya for most of his career. If asked which Bangladeshi player has gotten the most number of chances over the years, the popular answer on social media would almost certainly be Soumya Sarkar.

But is there any truth to this perception?

The reality is that Soumya has played only 68 of the 158 ODIs Bangladesh have played since his debut in 2014, and only 10 since 2019.

When he came out to bat in the second ODI on Friday, Soumya knew his position in the team was on the line. Still, the left-hander hit an eye-catching 64-ball 68, which took his ODI run tally over 2000 in 64 innings, making him the quickest among all Bangladeshi batters to reach the milestone.

He broke the record of Liton Das and Shahriar Nafees, who had completed 2000 runs in 65 innings.

Soumya, a batter who is known for his inconsistency, becoming the fastest to reach 2000 ODI runs in the country highlights the subpar standard of Bangladesh cricket and the fact that 81 cricketers in the world have done it in fewer matches just makes it even more apparent.

Soumya has been inconsistent for the majority of his career. He got a flying start in international cricket, averaging 49 after his first 16 ODIs at a strike rate of 102. But after not getting runs in a series against Afghanistan, Soumya lost his place in the side.

Since then he has been in and out of the team and has also been tried out in different positions in the batting order.

The management and the selectors have been inconsistent about what they want from Soumya, making him bat lower down the order in 34 percent of his innings, highest among Bangladeshi openers.

He has batted at the middle-order and even as a pace bowling all-rounder who would bat as a finisher, to no success.

In the 42 innings where he has batted as an opener, he averages 36.92 at a strike rate of 100.07.

His career ODI strike rate of 97.48 is also head and shoulders above Bangladeshi batters who have played at least 50 ODIs, the next best being Liton Das with 86.68 and the others being below 80.

In a way, the century against New Zealand was Soumya's rebirth in international cricket and the half-century against Sri Lanka would probably earn him a few more chances.

But if Soumya wants to change the perception about him on social media, the only thing he needs to do is perform consistently. And for that, the management needs to be consistent about what they want from the player.