Soumya, Saif rewrite record books with blazing stand

Soumya Sarkar and Saif Hassan put on a show in the opening partnership in Bangladesh's third ODI against West Indies at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Thursday.

The partnership ended on 176 off just 152 balls when Saif, after racing to a career-best 80 off 72 balls with a half-a-dozen of sixes and fours each, got caught at long on off Roston Chase.

Soumya also couldn't stick around much longer, getting caught off Akeil Hosein just three overs later after making 91 off 86 with seven fours and four sixes. 

Although the duo fell well short of the Tiger's biggest ever opening stand which belongs to Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das, who put together a 292-run stand against Zimbabwe in Sylhet in March 2022, they broke a few records. They are as follows:

• Soumya and Saif's stand was the highest opening partnership for Bangladesh in ODIs in Mirpur. The record earlier belonged to Imrul Kayes and Anamul Haque, who put together a 150-run stand against Pakistan in 2014.
• This is also the highest opening stand for the Tigers against the West Indies in ODIs. The earlier highest was a 144-run stand between Tamim and Soumya in Dublin, Ireland in May 2019.
• This was the first 100-run opening stand for Bangladesh in ODIs after 45 innings. The last time it happened was when Tamim and Litton formed an unbroken 102-run stand in their 10-wicket win over Ireland in Sylhet in March 2023.