Soumya Sarkar explains Bangladesh’s aggressive approach against Australia
Soumya Sarkar Explains Bangladesh’s Aggressive Approach
Bangladesh may have been chasing a modest target in the second ODI against Australia, but Soumya Sarkar says there was never any intention of playing cautiously.
With the required run rate hovering around four and a half runs per over, Bangladesh could have chosen a conservative approach. However, after Tanzid Hasan Tamim was dismissed without scoring, Soumya and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto decided to take the attack to the Australian bowlers instead. Their approach paid off as the pair added 86 runs in 15.3 overs.
Attacking Strategy
Explaining the thinking behind their strategy, Soumya said Bangladesh wanted to avoid allowing Australia to gain momentum in the game. “The more defensive you are against big teams, the more they put you under pressure,” Soumya said. “They were trying very hard to take wickets. Shanto and I decided to play attacking cricket so that they could never get on top of us.”
According to the left-handed batter, the key was to deny Australia any opportunity to build pressure after the early wicket. “If we had thought that the target was small and decided to take our time, then lost another wicket, the game could have shifted in their favour,” he said. “We didn’t give them that opportunity.”
Australia’s Desperation
Soumya pointed out that Australia’s desperation for breakthroughs was clear from the way they used their frontline bowlers during the chase. “You’ll notice that their main bowlers bowled four or five overs in a spell. That was because they were looking for wickets,” he said. “Our goal was to score as many runs as possible without losing wickets. We never thought about rebuilding slowly. We wanted to stay positive and keep the scoreboard moving.”
