Bangladesh cricket, of-late, produced an array of world-class left-handers who bolstered their batting line-up.
The likes of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Imrul Kayes are some of them. However, one of the most elegant stroke makers in Bangladesh’s batting arsenal is Soumya Sarkar, who plays some of the most gorgeous cricketing shots on the off-side.
Sarkar recently opened up about his first cricketing idol before fully understanding the game. The southpaw named the popularly acclaimed ‘God of the Off-Side’, Sourav Ganguly as his first cricketing idol.
“My life’s first cricket hero was Sourav Ganguly. I was a fan of him even before I understood cricket fully. One day my brother said, ‘You will be a left-handed batsman like Ganguly and bowl right-arm medium pace’. I’m not a natural left-hander, I started it after my brother’s advice. Except batting, I do all my work with the right-hand,” Sarkar told bdnews.24.
“I used to watch Sourav play on TV along with my brother. That time, an India-Pakistan game had a separate fanbase. While growing up, I became a fan of his cover-drive. And hitting the spinners by stepping out was incredible,” added Sarkar.
Sarkar then recalled the fan-boy moment when he finally got the opportunity to meet his idol when he visited Kolkata during his U16 days. The 27-year-old revealed that he could not help but only stare at his idol, ‘Dada’.
Over a period of time, Sarkar became obsessed with the batting of Yuvraj Singh and his style of play. Further, Sarkar tagged Yuvi as his favourite cricketer after growing up.
“After growing up, Yuvraj Singh became my favourite cricketer. I loved his aggressive style of batting from the word go. He used to change the course of the game pretty quickly. He didn’t spare anyone and was fearless. Even I wish to play like him,” Sarkar concluded.
