In preparation for the Emerging Teams Asia Cup, which will take place in Sri Lanka, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has selected a number of players who have been on the fringes of the national side throughout the course of the years.
The name that stood out the most on the list was that of Soumya Sarkar, who has not been in the running for a spot on the national team owing to their recent poor performance. Soumya was selected to be a part of the team, and today, the Tigers’ head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that players like him would be given a chance to be on the World Cup team if they perform well.
In addition to Soumya, players such as Zakir Hasan (who serves as Vice Captain), Sheikh Mahedi Hasan, and opener Mohammad Naim were selected.
Despite the fact that one BCB source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that Soumya has “no other option but to bat in the middle order” in the upcoming tournament in Sri Lanka, the same source inferred that there was certain unwillingness to include Soumya in the squad in the first place due to the fact that he was not “scoring runs anywhere.”
Despite this, Soumya and the others were present in the national team’s camp ahead to the Eid holidays. Today, Hathurusingha said that despite the squad already having a stable ODI unit, the team management was looking forward to the players demonstrating their form in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup.
When the head coach was questioned about the possibility of players from that competition being selected for the World Cup, he responded in a clear manner.
“There is no doubt [that there is a possibility]. Good question. If you take a look at our combination, you’ll see that we’ve also included certain players in that squad. “Not keeping to U-23 as usual because that tournament (Emerging Teams Asia Cup) opened up this year without age limits,” Hathurusingha said during today’s news conference at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. The venue is located in Chattogram.
It was mandated by the head coach that they have a consistent group, which may have been intended to temper the players’ expectations.
“I believe every nation in Asia is utilizing that (competition) as a kind of a proving ground to offer the chance to demonstrate where they are now at in their development. At the same time, our staff is really well settled and functioning well at the present. As a result, he came to the conclusion that a person’s eligibility for the team would be affected by the number of runs they scored.
Meanwhile, the team management is looking at Naim to potentially fill in as a backup opener, and Hathurusingha has confirmed that he will play at some point during the Afghanistan series.
Hathurusingha said that “whenever we get the opportunity, we want to give him a game as well,” and that “giving him a game is also in the plan.”