Jaker Ali: Bangladesh Top Order Must Adapt Strategy, Prioritize Strike Rotation Over Boundaries in Asia Cup 2025

Bangladesh batter Jaker Ali admitted that Bangladesh paid the price of a top-order failure against Sri Lanka in their second group game in the Asia Cup, preventing them from posting a competitive total on the board.

Sri Lanka earned a six wicket win over Bangladesh as they made light work of the target chasing down 140 in just 14.4 overs.

Bangladesh's innings began disastrously as for the first time in T20Is they lost two wickets without scoring a run. The struggle ensued even for the middle-order as they slipped to 53 for 5 at one stage.

Jaker Ali (41*) and Shamim Patowary (42) stitched together an unbeaten 86-run partnership but that looked hardly good enough to put pressure on the islanders.

"I believe that the openers and the No. 3 batter are very important for our team. We are very mindful of this and they must be cautious in this regard," Jaker told reporters after the game.

"But that does not mean they have to go for fours and sixes every ball in the PowerPlay. Drop and run, rotating strike, these things should be in mind. I am sure they will think about it and do better in the next match," he said.

"That (failing in PowerPlay) is something they (top-order) can answer better but I feel if we had made a proper plan and been a little more focussed as a batting unit at the start, it would have been better," he said.

"Batting unit means everyone. Just because I played well or Patowari played well does not mean only we did well. Together we batted poorly, and together we lost," he added.

Jaker added that they have to understand that it is not easy to score from both sides of the wicket as wind plays a big part during the game.

"This is something you have to keep in mind and you cannot hit both sides freely. You have to play more on one side of the ground, and on the other side you can attack only if the wind helps.

"These things have to be kept in mind. I do not want to keep blaming the top-order batters again and again. A proper start would have made these things less risky. Since we did not have wickets in hand, you cannot take that many risks," he said.

Jaker said that they have still not lost hope of making progress beyond the group stage. As it stands now, Bangladesh can qualify if they along with Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan, subject to the Lankans earn a win over Hong Kong in their third game.

"There is no question of giving up hope. We will play to win. We went into this match with that mentality, but it did not happen. In the next match also, we will play with the mentality to win. There is no other way.

"We did not come to the tournament just to play matches. We came to be champions. Losing one game does not mean losing hope. We will definitely play to win," he added.