Soumya plans Bangladesh's way to the final
© Cricfrenzy
||CF Correspondent||
Almost a year after his last ODI appearance, Soumya Sarkar has been included in Bangladesh’s Asia Cup squad, as their openers have failed to perform in the absence of Tamim Iqbal. Another opening batsman, Imrul Kayes, is also accompanying Soumya on his journey to the UAE ahead of the Tigers' next match against Afghanistan.
Soumya and Imrul were part of a four-day match along with the HP Unit, scheduled to be held between September 19 and 22. Their national call-up came as a surprise as the board had previously opted to choose no replacement for injured Tamim.
Within just a day, both the players will have to play in entirely different conditions. Moreover, suddenly entering such a major tournament will also have its impact on them.
“Of course, it is always challenging,” Soumya told the reporters ahead of his journey to the UAE. “Going in a different weather, that too, in the middle of the tournament, so I have to adapt as quickly as possible. There’s no other option.
“I have to be keep myself mentally prepared and think everything is alright.
“You cannot change the weather. We have to play in this weather. It is better to not think about that now.”
Losing their first match to India by a big margin, Bangladesh now have to defeat Afghanistan in their next game. With no time for experimentation, whoever the team management choses to open the batting innings, will have to perform.
Under such obvious pressure, Soumya does not want to affect his game with this “must-win” scenario and has a rather smart way to look at it. He thinks that looking at the next Super Four game against Afghanistan as a quarter-final encounter and the last Super Four match against Pakistan as semi-final, although those actually are not knockout matches. However, thinking and acting in that manner will smoothen Bangladesh’s way to the final as they, anyway, can afford to lose in none of those clashes.
He said: “If I think that way, then there will be more pressure on me. I have to think about the match as my first one in the tournament. I'll start that way. If I think a lot, then I will get more pressure on myself, those things will remain in my head.
“There is still a chance. A team is out once they lose in the knockout stage. We have to think like that now.
“I think we should think of our next match as a quarter-final and the one after it as a semi-final. If we think that way, then it will be good for us.
“If we think about Afghanistan and Pakistan at the same time, then it will be problematic. So, we have to think about the Afghanistan match first and then about the clash against Pakistan.”
