Bangladesh batter Soumya Sarkar has come back to national team in the ODI format after quite a long gap. But within a couple of appearances, he has made the comeback a memorable one with a 169-run knock in the second ODI against New Zealand in the ongoing series. He smacked 22 fours and two sixes during his record breaking knock to help Bangladesh to post 291 runs on the board.
With his 169, Sarkar now has the highest score from subcontinent country in ODIs in New Zealand going past Sachin Tendulkar‘s 163 that he had scored against the Kiwis back in 2009 in Christchurch. He had scored those runs off 133 balls with 16 fours and fives sixes before getting retired hurt. Moreover, his knock had propelled India to 392 runs in their 50 overs and most importantly, the men in blue ended up winning the match by 58 runs.
Unfortuntely, for Soumya Sarkar, his 169-run knock went in vain with Bangladesh going down by seven wickets in the defence of 291 runs. The second highest run-scorer for the visitors in this match after Sarkar was Mushfiqur Rahim with 45 and that played a role in them not posting a par total on the board.
Will Young and Henry Nicholls smashed half-centuries while even the other batters contributed enough to take New Zealand over the line in the run-chase. They reached the target in less than 47 overs and the win has also sealed the series for the Kiwis. They had won the rain-marred series opener by 44 runs as the match was reduced to 30-overs per side and Bangladesh had failed to chase down the target.
