Asia Cup 2018: Bangladesh recall Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar

Despite starting off the Asia Cup on a great note, Bangladesh lost their last group match to Afghanistan. They were totally outplayed by the Afghan stars. And then, on the first day of the Super Four stage, they got all-out just scoring 173 against the defending Asian Champions India. On both of the occasions, the Bangladeshi openers failed to fulfill the demand of the team.

Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das were the openers of Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. But, Tamim got his left wrist injured by a bouncer off Suranga Lakmal during the Asia Cup opener against Sri Lanka, and that ruled him out of the contest. Nazmul Hossain Shanto played against Afghanistan as the replacement of Tamim. But, he failed to impress. Liton Das also failed to prove himself as the long-term solution to the opening problem of the Tigers.

Valuable additions to the team

Due to the regular disappointment of the current openers, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) recalled Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar. While confirming their inclusion to Bangladesh Asia Cup squad, BCB media manager Rabeed Imam says that Imrul and Soumya will depart for UAE on Saturday evening.

Despite being called up to preliminary squad of the Asia Cup earlier, both of them were left out from the final squad by the BCB selectors. Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar represented Bangladesh for the last time in ODIs during their tour to South Africa in 2017. Their performances were poor during that series and they were sidelined from the team.

Imrul played 70 ODIs scoring 1998 runs at an average of 28.95 while Soumya played 32 ODIs and scored 967 runs at an average of 34.53. Both of these left-handed openers are known for their stroke-making abilities. But, due to inconsistency, they failed to cement their places in the Bangladesh team. Now, this time around they have got another chance to prove themselves in the 50-over format.

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