Bashar says Soumya in squad for NZ tour for ‘experience’

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) included Soumya Sarkar in the white-ball squad for their upcoming tour of New Zealand despite his poor recent numbers in limited-overs cricket. While many believe he is in the squad because of being in head coach Chandika Hathurusingha's good books, selector Habibul Bashar said prior experience of playing in New Zealand worked in his favour.

Soumya was given a couple of opportunities in the ODI series against New Zealand prior to the World Cup but the all-rounder failed to live up to the expectations, recording a duck in the solitary innings.

The southpaw has played 17 white-ball internationals in New Zealand and made two half-centuries. His T20I records in that country are respectable, striking at 154 and averaging 21.

"I don't think it's necessary to talk about the coach's inputs. When we announce a team, everyone's inputs are taken. A cricketer cannot be called up based on only one person's input," Bashar said.

"We had to make some forced changes this time. [There is] no Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan is not available. So the number of experienced cricketers is very less. Generally we struggle in New Zealand. So we thought [it's better] to include someone who has played there before than try someone new," he added.

Soumya scored 436 runs in six first-class matches at an average of 48 in the recently-concluded National Cricket League (NCL). 

"He has some all-round ability. It's not that he has done very well in first-class cricket. But an average of 48 is not bad. We considered his all-round ability and prior experience of playing in New Zealand," he mentioned.