Soumya Sarkar wanted to be aggressive against bouncers

Sarkar scored an unbeaten 88 last night against South Africa

Bangladesh opener Soumya Sarkar revealed last night that he had planned to take on the South African quicks, reports ESPNcricinfo. Even though he wanted to convert his starts, he explained that he wasn’t worried about getting out while trying to pull bouncers. Even though he didn’t get on top of the bouncers bowled by the opposition initially, he pulled Kagiso Rabada for a boundary with authority later on.

"I heard from somewhere that they will stop me by bowling bouncers. I wanted to play at them, even if I got out. I wanted to get out of that mindset. I planned that no matter how fast they bowl and how much they try to bounce me, I just wanted to take them on."

He also rated last night’s knock higher than the century he made against Pakistan recently. "Against South Africa, I have had to make a bad ball as they weren't giving away. Pakistan were giving at least one bad ball per over. This was a tougher knock. We were chasing a bigger total against Pakistan so we could plan accordingly. Small targets are always hard to chase. We have to change plans quickly. You have to start fresh after quick wickets. I will keep this innings ahead," reported ESPNcricinfo.

Many people including the BCB president Nazmul Hasan have been asking him to bat longer given his potential. "Everyone says the same thing. Even those who are younger than me tell me, 'Bro, please finish your innings'. I have been getting used to this," he said. "I didn't do too many different things to prolong my innings. My target wasn't to score a 50 or a 100 but to finish the chase. I just wanted to play till the end."

"I cut down one or two of my shots thinking that it might bring me a positive result. A big innings always brings relief. I started differently today but that was due to the circumstances. I think I faced just one ball in the first three-four overs. We had lost two wickets by then so I had to think fresh. I had thought earlier that I would play in my own way. But the two wickets changed my plans," he said as reported by the website.