Soumya rues loss of early wickets after defeat in second New Zealand ODI

Bangladesh lacked penetration with the ball and eventually lost the second ODI against New Zealand by seven wickets. Soumya Sarkar's superb 169 off 151 went in vain but the southpaw did enough to bag the Player of the Match award.

Soumya's hundred was much-needed as he had been horribly out of form. This was his first fifty-plus score in four years and first ton in five years in this format. 

"I took time in the first few overs. Happy with the hundred, but unfortunately we lost. Would have been special had we won," he said after the match. 

Bangladesh were reduced to 44-3 in the 10th over, losing Anamul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Litton Das, and the early loss of wickets made the difference, felt the left-handed batter.

"I had good partnerships [with Mushfiqur and Miraz] but they got out at the wrong time. Could have had a bigger total if they wouldn't have got out. If we had not lost three wickets in the powerplay, it would have made a difference," he added.

Soumya was emotional in the post-match press conference revealing "us cricketers have cried more than we have laughed".

"Cricketers won't play well every day. For instance, you probably don't expect to get rich food to eat every day. As players, we also don't expect to play well every day," he added.

The southpaw detailed on the statement explaining why cricketers cry more than they laugh: "If we play a full series, we perhaps do well in one or two matches. The rest of it doesn't go well. But if we dwell on those failures, then we will fall behind. So we have to focus on the positives and how we can do even better in the future. We go into the matches trying to be as perfect as we can be."

Despite the 30-year-old's daddy ton, Bangladesh lost the match and he admitted that "it would have felt a lot better if this hundred helped the team win".