World Cup 2019 | 'Soumya Sarkar matching South Africa's fire with fire', netizens hail the Bangladesh opener after he provides a blistering start in their first encounter

South Africa will be looking to make amends after their huge loss against hosts England in the curtain-raiser by a comprehensive margin of 104 runs when they face Bangladesh at the Kennington Oval on Sunday. The Proteas will be aiming to register their first win at the showpiece event against Mashrafe Mortaza's men. Meanwhile, Bangladesh, who are playing their first game of the tournament will be eager to start their campaign off with a win and at the same time, also add salt to South Africa's wounds by handing them another defeat.

South African skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl first. Bangladesh got off to a brisk start riding on a destructive knock by their star opening batsman Soumya Sarkar. At the other end, his opening partner Tamim Iqbal took some time to settle down, but was providing good support to Sarkar. Sarkar tackled the new ball well as he took the attack to the bowlers right from the word, 'Go'. He smashed South Africa's premier fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi to all parts of the ground.  He also survived a catch when he edged the ball off Ngidi and it went past the two slip fielders.

The duo added 50 runs for the opening stand by the seventh over. However, Tamim could not hang around for too long as he was dismissed in the ninth over by Andile Phehlukwayo.

At the time of publishing this story, Sarkar was dismissed for a blistering 30-ball 42 at a strike rate of 140 which included nine boundaries as Bangladesh were 181/2 after 28.4 overs with two veteran players Shakib-Al-Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim in the middle.

Here's how Soumya Sarkar was lauded for his brisk knock on social media.

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