Bangladesh looking to increase options ahead of World Cup

The inclusion of Soumya Sarkar, Mosaddek Hossain and Mahedi Hasan in the national team for a three-day training camp is part of the plan to increase the options ahead of the World Cup, said assistant coach Nic Pothas.

The camp, which was designed for the ODI and T20 series against Afghanistan, ended Saturday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Pothas said, "I think again it's been a case of giving people opportunity. We don't want people to feel like they're outside of the group. And it also gives us options. If somebody gets injured, we don't want to be pulling people out of thin air from somewhere where we haven't seen them.

"And also giving them the best opportunity to train, to practice, to be ready, if there is an opportunity at some point. So, we want to try and be as inclusive as possible. And the head coach has a very clear plan."

It was head coach Chandika Hathurusingha who insisted the national selection panel include the trio in the three-day preparation camp.

Soumya, who was dropped from the national squad after a dismal performance in the 2022 T20 World Cup, was getting more attention because of his previous success in the global tournaments.

Soumya hasn't played white-ball cricket for Bangladesh since the 2022 T20 World Cup but was included in the Emerging Asia Cup squad as a potential candidate in the middle order.

The assistant coach also said, "He's (Soumya) obviously batted at the top of the order before... At the moment, it's really at the beginning of the observation phase. So, I think he's going to get an opportunity to go away with emerging players, to play again.

"But the most important thing for any batsman, your currency is runs. What we think you look like and what we think you can do is irrelevant. That just gets you into the system. It's the thing that gets you into a team is runs. That's the bottom line."

/KN/