Languid Soumya makes promising start

One of the things you want to do after observing Soumya Sarkar in the field is to reconfirm that the word 'lithe' is the most appropriate one to describe his demeanour, posture and height.

Among the members of the Bangladesh Test squad for the match against India, only Shakib Al Hasan comes close to Soumya's height and gait. The two pace bowlers, Rubel Hossain and Mohammad Shahid, walk as if their strut is slowly giving away to a hobble. Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque and Jubair Hossain amble across the turf while Taijul Islam hot-foots from one spot to another.

Some of Soumya's agility was tested when Wahab Riaz gave him a working-over in the second Test in Dhaka last month. He was peppered with short balls, hit once and then tamely drove to the lap of the cover fielder. In the second innings, he edged down the leg side, again to a short ball. Against India, he can expect another barrage.

But he has retained his composure by getting domestic runs, more precisely a maiden first-class hundred, between the two series. The usual languid strokeplay was present during that innings in Chittagong, too.

In an international career that began on December 1, 2014, Soumya has played his share of important knocks. The first impact was the 28 against Afghanistan during the World Cup league game in Canberra which kick-started a flagging Bangladesh innings. Against Sri Lanka, he bumped off five boundaries and got a start before getting out. His influential innings of 40 against England gave Mahmudullah and Bangladesh the momentum to build a base that the opening batsmen had failed to provide. His first ODI fifty was an enterprising innings against New Zealand and his first ODI hundred was a delightful knock, against Pakistan in April.

Soumya said that he had enjoyed the win over England in Adelaide the most so far. The hundred against Pakistan is also on his mind, particularly after everyone kept telling him that the Pakistan attack would be too tough for him. He had thought playing Umar Gul would be hard but ended up pumping the pace bowler repeatedly through midwicket for fours, and even struck a straight six.

"I would say the win over England in the World Cup was one of the most memorable days for us," he told ESPNcricinfo. "I think I will remember it for a long time.

"I didn't do anything differently as such. Everyone asked me 'Pakistan has top bowlers, how are you going to face them?' But I didn't think anything out of the ordinary. I tried to play quite normally against them. At the start I thought playing Umar Gul would be tough but after I went to the middle, it didn't seem that hard. It seemed that I could handle him."

Soumya bats with minimal footwork. He bowls off a short, nimble run-up and eases into the delivery stride. And he fields wearing the white brimmed hat. He likes to enforce shots by balancing off the front foot on both sides of the wicket. He is fond of the cover drive but says that he focuses on the execution and result more than the aesthetics. If people watching him compare him to another batsman, Soumya says it's not something he does consciously.

"I feel comfortable playing the cover drive," Soumya said. "I haven't seen myself playing that shot much but I like it from within. I have never thought about it that way. I try to play the ball to its merit. It doesn't matter whether it looks great or not. We can think about it later. Maybe I myself can't realise but other people can see how I am playing. When people compare me to someone else, then maybe one can realise. But I don't compare myself to anyone."

Soumya, by the looks of it, has nearly all the ingredients to launch himself towards a successful international career for Bangladesh. One wouldn't want to form an opinion about a player who has only been around for 10 ODIs, one T20I and two Tests in seven months. The Test against India, if he gets picked, will be the first of many tests to prove that what is seen through his languid movements will indeed be the real deal.