Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) selector Habibul Bashar revealed why left hand batter Soumya Sarkar was included in the white-ball tour against New Zealand.
According to the selector, Soumya was picked for his past experience in the New Zealand conditions as they didn’t want to risk with the newcomers.
Bangladesh will be without experienced campaigners like Shakib al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad, so the board was forced to make certain changes.
“This time we actually had to make some forceful changes. Mahmudullah is not there, Shakib Al Hasan is not available, we don’t have enough experienced cricketers. Touring New Zealand has always been a bit difficult and struggling for us. We thought it would be better to play someone who has experience in these conditions before instead of new comer,” Bashar told the media on Friday.
“Soumya has a bit of all-round ability. He has played and performed in these conditions before, and has the all-round ability, so we picked him considering all these things,” he said.
Bashar avoided the fact that Soumya was included in the team under the influence of head coach Chandika Hathurusingha.
“I think there should not be too much talk about the coach's input. When it's a team, it's done with everyone's input. The team is formed after everyone's suggestion. We have our preferences, so do the coaches. It's not like a cricketer comes into the team just by one's choice,” he added.
Soumya played Bangladesh's last ODI series against New Zealand at home in September but failed to make his opportunity count and eventually was axed from the World Cup squad. He made a two-ball duck in his only innings, having returned to the side after two years. He also made the team of the T20, a format which he last played during 2022 T20 World Cup, when he made 49 runs in four innings.
But he then played some good knocks in the National Cricket League (NCL), a first-class tournament of the country, which paved his way back to squad once again.