Published on 12:00 AM, April 23, 2019

Soumya in focus on final day

Although plagued by inconsistency, Abahani batsman Soumya Sarkar (R) justified his inclusion in Bangladesh’s World Cup squad with a spectacular 79-ball 106 in a DPL match against Legends of Rupganj in Savar on Sunday. Surely, it was the sparking century that gave Bangladesh batting coach Neil Mckenzie something to smile about. PHOTO: Firoz Ahmed
Sports Reporter

 

Soumya Sarakar's DPL scores: 33, 36, 43, 29, 12, 10, 14, 1, 2, 17, 0, 106

 

After more than a month of cricketing action, when Abahani and Legends of Rupganj will be playing for the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) title against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in Savar and Prime Bank Cricket Club in Mirpur respectively, the focus will surely be on Abahani's Soumya Sarkar to see whether the left-hander can pick up from where he had left off in the last game against Rupganj on Sunday.

Ahead of the last round of games, both Abahani and Rupganj have 24 points from 15 matches, but Soumya's blinding 106 off 79 balls on Sunday saw Abahani defeat Rupganj by a whopping 102 runs. The margin eventually helped the Sky Blues overtake Rupganj at the top of the league table courtesy of a healthy 0.905 net run-rate.

While there remains no doubt about the left-hander's ability, consistency has been an everlasting issue for him. Soumya's previous best in the DPL of 43 against Mohammedan Sporting Club during the round-robin stage and his scores of 10, 14, 12, 17 and 0 in the last five games say a lot about his inconsistency. Soumya's century however will boost Abahani's confidence going into today's title-deciding last round of matches.

It is also a good sign for Bangladesh ahead of the World Cup, scheduled to begin form May 30 in the United Kingdom. But his record of being inconsistent put a question in everyone's mind about whether or not the 26-year-old will repeat what he is known for when he features for Abahani today.

Both Rupganj and Abahani have the chance to clinch the DPL title but Abahani's huge win over Rupganj in the last match has given them the edge. The situation now stands such that if both Abahani and Rupganj manage to win their respective matches, then the team with higher net run-rate will be declared winners as even the head-to-head between the two remain even with one win each. On the other hand, Rupganj will have to win by a big margin in order to increase their net run-rate and hope for Abahani to fail while just a win for Abahani and a loss for Rupganj will see Abahani as the champions, and vice versa.

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