Soumya Sarkar has been an enigma for Bangladesh cricket. His start was mercurial, and his fall even more shocking.
But after more than a year of his last Twenty20 International, Bangladesh desperately need Soumya in the format, probably more than ever.
Soumya gained popularity among the Bangladesh fans because of something Bangladesh cricket had never seen, an unbelievable ability to bat at a quick pace against whatever bowling attack. His timing was sumptuous, and his superb hand-eye coordination kept his lack of footwork at bay.
But not for long. Once he lost form, that lack of footwork kept haunting him and saw his career on a downhill trajectory.
It’s not that Soumya hasn’t shown glimpses of his ability in recent years, but his best version, seen in 2015, had never come back.
Before the last time he was dropped, Soumya was playing pretty well. He hit a fifty against New Zealand in New Zealand and then two in Zimbabwe.
But then came the dreaded series against Australia at home. The pitches at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in that series were as bad as it gets for the batsmen, and Soumya, who thrives on pace and bounces from the pitch, struggled.
He played another match against New Zealand on similar pitches and was dropped, then played one match in the T20 World Cup and was dropped permanently.
The pitches he failed on against Australia were so bad that Shakib Al Hasan even stated that playing on those pitches may end a batsman’s career.
And seemingly, it ended Soumya’s career for the time being. And from then on, he has done nothing significant to get a call back to the national team.
In the 2022 Bangladesh Premier League, Soumya played nine innings, where he scored 164 runs. Among them, he scored 82 runs in one inning, and the other 82 came in eight innings.
In the 2022 Dhaka Premier League, he played eight innings and scored 102 runs, averaging 14.57. Here too, he scored 59 runs in one inning and 43 in the remaining seven. And he was even dropped from the Mohammedan XI.
His performances were as bad as they come. And thus, even the question of him being picked seems ludicrous.
But Bangladesh, simply put, have no better options. Mohammad Naim and Anamul Haque have been proved to be failures, and Parvez Hossain Emon is just a newbie.
And as Liton Das’ partner, Soumya can be the ideal fit in Australia, where the ball is likely to come on to the bat of the batsman.
He is likely to thrive there more than anywhere else, and Bangladesh need to take that risk.
Team director of the national side, Khaled Mahmud, mentioned that 30-31 players would be called up for the camp, starting on September 12, ahead of the World Cup and Soumya, who has been practising at the SBNCS, is likely to be there.
Bangladesh have brought back Sabbir Rahman without proper reasoning. And they need to do the same with Soumya.
Bangladesh have talked about starting a new era with renewed intent. There was a brief example in the
Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka, but it’s not a sustainable system to try it out with Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Sabbir Rahman.
If Soumya can somehow find his best form, he can be the torchbearer for Bangladesh in finding a new path.
And thus, Bangladesh need to take that risk and bring Soumya back. Not because it’s the right call, but because they need him.