Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha does not generally give away a lot during press conferences. He is someone who tries to speak as little as possible about his team's preparation, especially during a series, in order to give the opponents no chance whatsoever to delve into Bangladesh's strategies.

However, when he does decide to openly discuss an issue, he can be quite direct and critical. For the first time since 2015, Hathurusingha had something negative to say about Soumya Sarkar yesterday.

When asked about Soumya's lack of form in a press conference in Nelson yesterday, he said: “Anyone who is not scoring runs has got a limited lifespan. He is hitting into his time, so it's a matter of time… if he does not score, we have to look for someone.”

The last year has been terrible for Soumya. Despite his bad run, the team management tried every possible step to help revive the left-hander. From giving him enough opportunities to playing him in different positions and giving him different roles, the coach and the selectors desperately wanted him to get back to form.

Hathurusingha's statement yesterday might finally put Soumya on the waiting list. It has been learnt that Soumya might just be replaced by Tanbir Hayder for the second game today.

However, the question as to whether the team management and the selectors have left Soumya's exclusion a bit too late will arise.

It is an open secret that coach Hathurusingha has a role to play in keeping Soumya in the side and so his statement yesterday was all the more shocking.

According to sources, the national selectors wanted Soumya to take part in the National Cricket League instead of the New Zealand series. They had also reportedly pitched the idea of including Mominul Haque in the 15-man ODI squad for the New Zealand series.

The left-hander, who is a regular at number three in Tests, was left out of the ODI team despite having an average of close to 30 while batting at number three. Soumya's poor patch however, has been going on for nearly one and a half years now. With the coach having finally expressed his dissatisfaction, it will be interesting to see what path lies ahead for the 23-year-old lad from Satkhira.