Soumya Sarkar was nowhere near Bangladesh’s Test setup until recently. But the left-hander, who last played Test cricket in 2021, has been included in the squad for the two-match series in Australia after Mahmudul Hasan Joy was left out of the tour.
Soumya was the leading run-scorer in last season’s National Cricket League (NCL), scoring 633 runs at an average of 45.21, including four fifties and a century for Khulna Division. His recent form, coupled with his experience of playing against high-quality pace, has earned him the backing of chief selector Habibul Bashar Sumon as a backup opener.
Asked about the thought process behind Soumya’s selection at a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Monday, Bashar said the left-hander’s experience of facing pace in Oceania played a key role. Soumya who have played 16 Tests and scored 831 runs with one century and 4 fifties at an average of 27.70.
Bashar pointed out that most of the top run-scorers in the NCL are relatively inexperienced when it comes to facing high-quality pace.
“You can call it a bit of desperation. To be honest, if you look at our NCL, the players who have scored runs are mostly very new. Zakir Hasan is there, who has played Test cricket,” Bashar said.
“We felt Soumya has more experience of facing this kind of pace than the others. Soumya Sarkar has played against this kind of pace bowling, while the others haven’t,” he added.
Players in the pipeline, including consistent performers Ashiqur Rahman Shibli and Pritom Kumar, are yet to convince the selectors that they are ready for Test cricket, according to Bashar.
The chief selector said the selection panel therefore opted for a proven opener for the challenging Australia series.
“We feel that, at this moment, rather than taking a player from the pipeline into a series like the one against Australia, we wanted to go with a proven opener,” Bashar said.
