Soumya Sarkar and Saif Hassan, an unlikely opening pair, brought back some forgotten memories for Bangladesh when they stitched a 176-run partnership in the third and final ODI against the West Indies at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.聽
The duo added 176 runs, the second-highest opening partnership ever for Bangladesh, which was also the first Bangladeshi opening pair to build a century partnership since March 2023.
Captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz said that the partnership changed their mindset.聽
鈥楩irstly, the start is very important for a team. But we couldn鈥檛 manage that for a long time,鈥� Mehidy said after the match.聽
鈥楤ut when there鈥檚 a partnership, the mentality of the team changes. So the two must be credited for how they batted. They batted aggressively, and that鈥檚 why it became easy for us,鈥� he added.聽
鈥楽oumya reverse swept against the off-spinners, because that gave him more options to score runs. Saif also attacked the right-handed bowlers,鈥� Mehidy further said.聽
Bangladesh had tried nine opening pairs since the last World Cup before Soumya and Saif.聽
Soumya made a comeback into the ODI side after last playing in the Champions Trophy early this year, having opened the batting for Bangladesh with 16 partners before Saif.聽
Saif, on the other hand, made his 50-over international debut in this series. Their first two partnerships were of 22 and eight runs, respectively.聽
The pitch used for the series-deciding third ODI had been expected to be as tough as the previous two matches to bat on.聽
But when Saif struck Akeal Hosein for two consecutive boundaries in the opening over, the wicket seemed to be a different one.聽
After starting slowly, Soumya got a lucky break when he outside-edged Roston Chase for a four to bring his first runs.聽
The pair never looked back until Saif mistimed a slog off Chase in the 26th over. He hit six fours and six sixes and threatened to break the record for the most number of sixes (8) by a Bangladeshi batter in an innings.聽
He made 80 off 72 with a strike rate of 111.11.聽
Soumya fell short by just nine runs of his fourth ODI hundred when he was caught at wide long-on while trying to slog Hosein.聽
He hit seven fours and four sixes and batted with a strike rate of 105.81. This makes Soumya and Saif the only second pair to score a minimum of 80 runs with a 100-plus strike rate each in the same match.聽
Soumya has now been involved in five century partnerships for the first wicket for Bangladesh and joins Imrul Kayes in the list headed by Tamim Iqbal (14).
