Jaker again makes his case for national team

Comilla Victorians' wicketkeeper-batter Jaker Ali Anik once again showed his ability as a finisher in this year's Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) yesterday, further strengthening his case for a call up to the Bangladesh Twenty20 squad. 

Comilla suffered a six-wicket loss to Fortune Barishal in their last group-stage game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday, a match they could've lost by an even bigger margin had it not been for Jaker.

The 26-year-old displayed great maturity coming in at number seven when Comilla were 86 for 5 in 14.5 overs, took on the Barishal bowlers on a tricky Mirpur surface and scored an unbeaten 16-ball 38 which featured four sixes and two fours to push their total to 140 for 8. This was the wicketkeeper-batter's ninth outing in this year's tournament and so far he has scored 179 runs at an excellent strike rate of 151.69.

Although he is yet to score a half-century, with his best score being an unbeaten 40 off 31 balls against Khulna Tigers, Jaker has been instrumental in Comilla finishing second in the points-table, regularly playing impactful innings in pressure situations.

Jaker has been dismissed only twice in nine innings, which speaks volumes of his consistency, and has an average of 89.5, the best in the tournament.

Despite his consistent run lower down the order and the Bangladesh team being on the lookout for a finisher in Twenty20s, Jaker was overlooked by the outgoing selection panel led by Minhajul Abedin Nannu for the Tiger's forthcoming three-match home T20 series against Sri Lanka next month.

The selectors picked four specialist openers in the T20I squad in the form of Anamul Haque, Liton Das, Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar while skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto at times also opens the innings.

Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah Riyad were the only specialist middle-order batters in the squad with the latter expected to play the role of a finisher against Sri Lanka.

Comilla coach Mohammad Salahuddin had criticised the selection process after Jaker wasn't named in the squad.

"You are looking for players to bat at number six and seven and this guy [Jaker] has been doing well for the last two years. He scores runs at crucial moments for us and is sensible. I feel that this boy should be given opportunity," the Comilla coach had said at a press conference on February 14.

Although Jaker has played three T20s for Bangladesh, they were in last year's Asian Games where the board had sent a second-string team.
The Bangladesh management had the perfect opportunity to give Jaker some real exposure in international cricket in the Sri Lanka series.But their decision to overlook Jaker has denied him a chance to prove his mettle and the team has also wasted an opportunity to assess a potential finisher leading up to this year's ICC Twenty20 World Cup.