What ails Soumya?

He scored 10, 1, 20, 21, 84, 0 and 17 in the seven Dhaka Premier League matches he played so far for Legends of Rupganj. In March this year the elegant left-hander made 15, 20, 12, 0, 1, 21 and 6 in the ICC WorldTwenty20 in India. In November last year the batsman from Satkhira could manage only 177 runs in 12 matches while playing for Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Soumya Sarkar scored his last hundred on May 24 during the four-day Bangladesh Cricket League match after his masterful unbeaten 127 against Pakistan in April 22 at Mirpur last year. In other words, he has spent an entire year -- during which he has played 76 matches -- without any three-figure score at any level. After the last hundred however, the 23-year old played two magnificent knocks of 88 not out and 90 in July last year in Mirpur and Chittagong against South Africa.

Unfortunately, his batting slide started soon after his last two ODI innings against South Africa. Many had hoped that his 84 against Abahani at Mirpur on May 9 might have given him the much-needed confidence but he is yet to prove it right.

The left-hander enthralled cricket lovers in a very short period of time with his fearless batting and eye-catching stroke-play in international cricket and there is no doubt about his talent.

So what has actually been going wrong in his batting?

Nazmul Abedin Fahim, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) national game development manager, and Mohammad Salahuddin, former assistant coach of the Bangladesh national team and currently guiding Gazi Group Cricketers in the Dhaka Premier League, are two personalities in local cricket to whom the country's leading cricketers go for advice in hard times.

Both Fahim and Salahuddin agree that Soumya has very little problem with his technique.

“No doubt he has got the talent. But he is still young and I think he is short of knowledge or experience regarding what a batsman needs to do when going through tough times. I think he is trying to do many things and often changes his approach to run away from the problem but in my opinion it will not help him, but rather deepen his problem,” observed Fahim.

“The failures in batting have disturbed him. At a very young stage he got success in international cricket, which brought huge changes to his life and then, when he suddenly faced problems he could not understand what he needed to do. In my opinion, he just forgot his routine. When you go through a bad time, you must go back to your basics and maintain the natural routine rather than trying many different things,” he added.

He also advised the batsman to try to spend some time at the middle. “Right now he desperately needs confidence in his batting and to bring it back he would need to spend as much time as possible in the middle to play a big knock and must avoid improvisation, instead playing his natural shots and playing to his strengths.”

“I am not worried about whether he can score a hundred or not but my main concern is whether Soumya can bat like Soumya,” he continued.

Salahuddin also advised the batsman to play to his strengths.

“See, even the world's greatest batsmen have some weakness in their technique… that's a different issue. Actually in my opinion Soumya has very little problem with his technique; rather Shakib [Shakib Al Hasan who has recently taken advice from Salahuddin to regain his batting rhythm in the IPL] has problems with his technique.  It's all about the mental issue regarding Soumya's long bad patch,” said Salahuddin.

“He has now retreated into a shell and I can tell you his current defensive approach will not help him at all. He must play to his strengths. Continuous failures have somehow dented his confidence to play his natural game. So he can escape his current problems if Soumya plays like Soumya. His batting problem actually deepened when he failed to bat according to the conditions during the last BPL where bowlers got movement and swing,” he added.  

A person connected to domestic cricket describing himself as a well-wisher of Soumya and who wished to remain anonymous, thought that Soumya needs someone close to him to get him working hard enough to recover his best form. “He needs someone to give him a shot of reality. For example, it is known that Soumya does not like playing off-spin, and domestic captains are exploiting this weakness. If domestic captains can exploit this weakness international teams will exploit it even more.” 

Soumya's current coach at Rupganj Khaled Masud also echoed the two experts' opinions. “Soumya proved his calibre and there is no doubt about his talent. He is our national asset. I am closely following him and I don't think he has any problem in his technique. He scored runs against quality bowling in international cricket, so many think it should be easier for him when it comes to domestic cricket but cricket is a mind game and you must develop yourself tactically also.”

“I am sure he will get back his rhythm soon in his batting,” he added.

The sooner the left-hander gets back to his natural form the better it will be, especially for the national team because if his bad patch continues there may well be a crisis in the opening slot.