It was pleasing to see Soumya Sarkar hitting some sort of form in the second T20 International against New Zealand at the Bay Oval on Friday. 

The left-hander scored a 26-ball 39 before being caught down the leg-side off Trent Boult. It was actually his first contribution of some substance after a long time for the Tigers. 

A kind of batsman capable of taking the game away, Soumya was looking like his old brilliant self when he was batting with Sabbir Rahman. The 68-run partnership for the fourth wicket gave Bangladesh hope, but it was effectively dashed after Soumya’s departure. 

“It feels good to score some runs. I was hitting the ball well and the ball was coming nicely onto the bat. But unfortunately I got out to a slower bouncer,” Soumya said after a nets session at the Bay Oval on Saturday.  

He said that he was thinking of playing the same way with Sabbir, hitting the ball with the wind till the 15th over and then reassess the situation and act accordingly. 

“The run-rate was not a big problem when we were batting. We were hitting with the wind nicely and had we been there till the 15th over, the equation could have been 70-odd from 30 balls. That was something which would not have been huge if we were there,” Soumya said, adding that this innings would help him regain his confidence.