BCB drops Soumya Sarkar from central contract list; calls it ‘mistake’ later

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Sunday released a list of players with central contracts and all-rounder Soumya Sarkar failed to find his name in it. The board said later that it was a mistake. The list included 16 names and the exclusion of the 27-year-old Sarkar came as a surprise to many.

The left-hand batsman who bowls right hand has been playing for Bangladesh in all three formats since making his international debut in 2014. He has made over 3,000 runs from 15 Tests, 55 ODIs and 49 T20Is with three hundreds besides taking 18 wickets.

“His name has been dropped while shortening the list. He is in agreement with the white ball. We cut out of 24 people. Something went wrong at that time,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu was quoted as saying by bdcrictime on Monday.

A new ‘Category D’ has been added with ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ in the central agreement. There are 14 cricketers in the first three categories while the fourth will see the addition of two more players.

Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib also dropped from the central contract list

Some other prominent names have also been omitted from the central contract list and they include former ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, and opener Imrul Kayes. Of them, Shakib has found himself outside the deal because of his ongoing ban.

Others like Abu Hider Rony, Khaled Ahmed, Rubel Hossain and Test specialist Shadman Islam were also dropped from the contract. Five new names have been added to the contract meanwhile and they are Najmul Hossain Shanto, Ebadot Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Afif Hossain, and Naim Sheikh.

Sarkar, who recently got married and the ceremony was marred by the theft of several mobile phones that were recovered later, won the man of the match award in the first T20I against Zimbabwe in Dhaka on Monday. He slammed 62 not out in just 32 balls at No.3 to power the hosts to 200 for 3 in 20 overs after Zimbabwe won the toss and invited them to bat. The visitors were all out for 152 to lose by 48 runs. The dashing fielder Sarkar also took two catches while fielding.