Soumya gets a jittery start upon return from injury

Bangladesh opener Soumya Sarker returned to the side as he replaced Liton Das at the top of the order in the fourth T2OI against Zimbabwe at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Friday. 

Soumya's start was jittery and the lack of game time seemed evident as he was playing his first match since featuring in the Sri Lanka series in March when he suffered an injury. He was roped into the squad for the last two T20Is against Zimbabwe.

While boundaries flowed at the other end, courtesy of Soumya's opening partner Tanzid Tamim, Soumya's approach portrayed nervousness. He struggled initially and took several deliveries to find his feet and would have to thank Tanzid for allowing him the time to settle. Soumya, at the end of the Powerplay, had faced just nine deliveries for six runs while Tanzid had reached 40 off 27.

Tanzid was finding the sweet spot of the bat and did all the scoring in the Powerplay. The left-handed batter gave Bangladesh their best start this series, with the Tigers managing 57 runs in the first six overs. 

After the Powerplay, Soumya began to feel his way in and shrugged off some of the accumulated rustiness. He reverse-swept off-spinner Brian Bennett for a six over third-man in the seventh over to pick up his first boundary and showed composure in not going for areas where there were fielders. He took on Luke Jonge over cover for another six after which the left-handed batter went on to score three more boundaries as the hosts reached 100 for no loss in the 11th over.

Both the openers looked set for big scores but as is so often the case with Bangladesh batters, both perished in the 12th over. 

Tanzid was the first to go, top-edging one to the fielder at cover after a 37-ball 52 before Soumyagot trapped lbw after shuffling across his stumps as he failed to make contact with a full and straight one.

Despite the rustiness, Soumya's 34-ball 41 would give him the required confidence for the rest of the series. 

The same however could not be said about the rest of the batting order as Bangladesh went from 101 from no loss to 143 all-out in another horrific batting display.