Soumya Sarkar born 25 February 1993 is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right arm medium-fast bowler who mainly plays as an opening batsman and the creator of the good looking ” Periscope Shot”. He is the only batsman to hit 2 sixes in the first over in a T20 World Cup match.
Sarkar made his debut in the longest format against Pakistan on April 28th 2015, where he scored 33 in either innings. On the back of a couple of failures, he was dropped from the Test team. Injury to Imrul Kayes allowed Sarkar to make a comeback in the five-day format against New Zealand at Christchurch in 2017. His score of 86 in the first essay that earned him a regular place in the playing eleven. The away Test series against Sri Lanka by far till date has been his best series. He recorded three successive fifties in the two-match series which was tied 1-1. His 61 at P Sara Oval was a very important knock that helped his team win its 100th Test match – a historic match.
His numbers in T20Is have been poor. His average is below 20 playing 24 matches and is yet to register a fifty despite batting at the top. After a pile of low scores in the 50-over format, Soumya Sarkar returned back to form in the ODI tri-series held in Ireland, featuring the hosts and New Zealand in May 2017, where Bangladesh went past Sri Lanka in ODI rankings to reach the sixth spot.
In February–March 2020, Sarkar did not feature in the Test and ODI series when Zimbabwe toured Bangladesh due to his marriage. But he was included in the two-match T20I series. In the first T20I, he scored 62 off 32 balls, his highest individual score in T20I (as of 22 May 2021), helping Bangladesh to win the match by 48 runs.
Soumya Sarkar was named in the T20I squad played against Zimbabwe in July 2021. In the first T20I, he scored his 1000th T20I runs, becoming only fifth Bangladeshi batsman to score 1000 T20I runs[33] and scoring 50 runs off 45 helped Bangladesh for a comprehensive eight-wicket victory. Though he failed with bat in the second match, but in the third match he took two wickets conceding 19 runs in 3 overs and scored his career-best 68 off 49 balls, helping Bangladesh to chase a mammoth target of 193 and winning the series by 2–1 margin. He became the Player of the series for his all-round performance, scoring 126 runs at an average of 42 and picking up 3 wickets.
The left-hander doesn’t have a good record in England but he will be itching to change his numbers given he has been now handed a ticket for the World tourney. Some good domestic performances have helped him break his way back into the side and he won’t leave any stone unturned to vindicate his place. A few solid performances at the top of the order can do a world of good for him and Bangladesh. He is coming into the World Cup at the back of three back-to-back fifties at Dublin in the tri-series that Bangladesh won. And his last one year has also been prolific. Expect the left-hander to come up with a few handy knocks.
In September 2021, he was named in Bangladesh’s squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.