Soumya's still got it - Why the left-handed batter should be part of Bangladesh's T20 World Cup squad

It was nothing too impressive or too 'impactful' - the trending word in Bangladesh's cricketing fraternity these days - but what Soumya Sarkar showed in his tidy performance in the T20I against New Zealand needs to be discussed. 

With the T20I World Cup just around the corner and the left-hander batter not in the squad, there is a case for him to be made.

Soumya played an innings of 23 from 17 deliveries with three boundaries in it.

During his 32 minutes at the crease, he showed that he still has the timing and the shots with which he burst onto the scene in 2015. 

In seven years, he's had more downs than ups with him failing to take his game to the next level and work on his weaknesses. 

As a result of which he would inevitably be dropped from the team.

But unfortunately, as things stand, Bangladesh have not found better options than the 29-year-old either. 

Mohammad Naim, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Saif Hassan are a few names that come to mind but they have unfortunately failed to perform up to the mark or better than Soumya.

However, if his domestic form is to go by, Soumya hasn't really performed to warrant a chance in the team.

But by domestic form, we are talking mostly about red-ball cricket in the NCL and white-ball 50-over cricket in the DPL.

There are no local 20-over tournaments to pick players from apart from the franchise-based BPL yet, and that is why Soumya got another chance.

While he didn't open the innings in the steep chase of 209, he came at no. 3, but there is a belief that he can do far better as an opener with Litton Das.

In the BPL and in the one domestic T20 tournament Bangladesh has ever had - the Bangabandhu Cup in 2020 - Soumya and Litton forged a very nice opening partnership.

Their opening partnership averages 40.16 and has scored 482 runs from 12 innings with a strike rate of 127.51. 

These are not bad stats per se even though the strike rate could be higher.

Bangladesh have one more match left against Pakistan in the tri-nation series and Soumya hopefully will get another shot to prove himself.

In a team that is struggling with its opening combinations and looking for solid starts from a settled pair, Soumya and Litton look like the only decent option available.

Technical consultant Sridharan Sriram had previously spoken about playing Litton in the middle order and that really didn't bring the desired result. 

With the opening combination of Sabbir Rahman and Mehidy Hasan Miraz also failing, Litton was brought back up in the opening slot.

While Shanto did not do too badly in the last few matches in the opening slot, there is a feeling that Soumya can have a bigger impact with the bat.

Soumya also offers something with the ball in these Trans-Tasman conditions which adds more depth and balance to the outfit.

With batting being a major concern, with wickets being lost at regular intervals, Bangladesh desperately need stability at the top of the order.

The Tigers could try and bat in the mould Pakistan do, with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in their opening slot and one of them looking to bat through the innings when the other gets out.

Sriram has spoken about trying more combinations in the T20I team and perhaps this is the way to go forward.