Could Jaker Ali be Bangladesh's secret sauce?

Bangladesh men's cricket has been on a downward trajectory, having won just two matches in the first six months of 2025. They travel next to Sri Lanka, for a multi-format series with question marks over their batters. Najmul Hossain Shanto is no longer first choice in T20Is, Litton Das has lost his place in ODIs, Mehidy Hasan Miraz is not a T20I regular, Mushfiqur Rahim only plays Tests, and Mahmudullah has retired from all formats.

Only Jaker Ali, who has played for fewer than two years in international cricket, is an automatic choice in all three formats. He has scored four fifties in five Tests, and four more in white-ball formats, all in difficult circumstances.

Two factors have gone in favour of Jaker. He has built himself as a big-hitter - he has 47 sixes across formats in his short career. He is also quite a character: a chatty wicketkeeper and an animated outfielder - a player who wears his heart on his sleeve.

He has become such an integral part of Bangladesh's batting line-up in T20Is that there was outrage when he wasn't promoted up the order in their last game, against Pakistan. Bangladesh lost that series 3-0, just after they had been beaten by UAE, also in a T20I series. But Jaker says that the team isn't disheartened by the defeats.

"I think we could have won four out of the six T20Is," Jaker says. "We missed opportunities. We have a lot of cricket coming up, so there's no need to be upset. There will be ups and downs. We have to focus on working hard and bring good results. Losing is disappointing but it doesn't necessarily mean we are a bad team."

Jaker's emergence in the Bangladesh set-up came through an unusual route. He was been a steady, if unflashy, performer in domestic cricket, with two fifties and a hundred for Bangladesh A since 2019. He didn't make an impact in his first three BPL seasons, but then the trajectory of his cricket career changed.

He joined a pre-BPL camp at the Masco Cricket Academy on the outskirts of Dhaka near the end of 2022. It was conducted by Comilla Victorians head coach Mohammad Salahuddin, who is now Bangladesh's assistant coach. There, Jaker worked on his power-hitting for four weeks, developing the mindset needed through training and preparation.

"Salahuddin sir made me do some specific work," he says. "Training doesn't go into the record books. I worked very hard on my power-hitting. It was a lot of repetition of drills. I still do those drills. Repeating the same work has turned it into a habit for me."

It produced results. From his aggregate of seven sixes in 14 innings over three seasons in the BPL, Jaker struck 11 sixes in 11 innings in the 2023 tournament, before raising that number to 14 sixes in ten innings the following season. He also upped his strike rate significantly, to 141.13 in 2024, working on an aspect he thinks Bangladesh have been deficient in. "I think we have had this weakness [power-hitting] for a long time. I took on the challenge to get over this barrier," he says.

"So far it is going well, Alhamdulillah, but there's still room for improvement. Whether it is power-hitting or leaving a ball, you have to keep repeating it, to the point it becomes a habit. The more I do power-hitting, [the more] it improves my bat swing. High-intensity practice always leads to confidence.

"I broke into the T20I side after showing that I can accelerate in the [2023] BPL. I always knew that I had to perform significantly to get into the team. I focus on hitting as many sixes as possible in T20s. I bat lower down the order, so a six usually brings ten runs in the over for my team. I try to take myself to a better position every day."

At last year's BPL, Comilla coach Salahuddin was unhappy the national selectors had not picked Jaker as a regular in Bangladesh's T20I side, despite his strong number. "I think he is one of the best [in the middle order]," Salahuddin said. "He is saving us [Comilla Victorians] almost in every game. He bats sensibly. He can play his shots all around the wicket. He is good against pace and spin."

A couple of weeks after the 2024 BPL wrapped up, the selectors called Jaker up to the national side, and he didn't disappoint. He struck six sixes in the first T20I against Sri Lanka, his 68 coming at a strike rate of 200. It was his home debut.

Jaker's breakthrough tour was in the West Indies late last year. Injuries to the captain, Najmul, Mushfiqur and Towhid Hridoy had depleted Bangladesh's batting stocks. Afghanistan had handed them a 2-1 ODI series defeat in Sharjah, on their way to the Caribbean, which had sapped the team's confidence before a long tour. They were hammered in the first Test, in Antigua, where Jaker's 53 was the team's highest score.

Jaker admits batting conditions in that series were particularly tough, and the shadow of their defeats there in the T20 World Cup earlier in the year hung over him. "I wasn't performing well in the previous matches leading up to the tour," he says. "West Indies has one of the toughest conditions in the world. I just told myself, let's take [on] the challenge, let's see what comes to me.

"[Since] I'd already played in the West Indies in the T20 World Cup, I started to visualise what challenges I was going to face there. What makes it tough there, especially in red-ball cricket, is the Dukes ball, the bounce, and the wind. But I backed myself to do well there."

Bangladesh's batting struggles continued in the second Test, in Jamaica, but the bowlers brought them into the game, giving them an 18-run lead. Bangladesh then slipped to 132 for 4, and then lost Mehidy and Litton, which left Jaker with the tail.

Bangladesh held a decent lead going into the fourth day, but with wickets falling, he knew he had to cut loose "They kept attacking us. After the ball was changed on the fourth day, I realised that survival was going to be really hard.

"I knew that I had to go for broke, and I ended up hitting five sixes. I have no regret about not getting a century. I worked very hard for couple of days, and I felt the five sixes were my biggest achievement," Jaker says.

Bangladesh set a target of 287 in the fourth innings, and they defended it like for all they were worth.

"We rallied around each other when we realised that there was a possibility of winning," Jaker says. "We decided to keep talking to each other in the field. Sometimes when the opposition batters put on a big partnership, everyone goes quiet. We wanted to let them [West Indies] know that we were in the game.

"I would run over from cover, and the slip cordon would talk to me. We wanted to show them that we were charged up. We had nothing to lose in that situation. They sledged us a lot when we were batting."

There was enough chat from the Bangladesh players that West Indies' batters complained to the umpires. Jaker and Co had got under their skin. In the end, West Indies were bowled out for 185 for a 101-run victory.

"I have never really spoken to anyone about this Test win," Jaker says. "We faced a difficult time there, especially having lost the previous Test. There was a flu going around in Jamaica at that time. We had a couple of players, the bowling coach and trainer all down with it. I think we had one or two players [from] outside the playing XI. The best part was, we didn't give up. It was a team effort. Everyone contributed, especially the bowlers. Taskin [Ahmed] bhai, Taijul [Islam] bhai, Hasan Mahmud and {Nahid] Rana," he said.

Two weeks later, in the third T20I, Jaker was left fuming after a mix-up with Shamim Hossain ended in a run out when he was on 17. He threw his bat in the air and trudged off, but replays showed that Jaker had slid his bat in before Shamim as both tried to make it past the crease at the same end, which meant Shamim was the one dismissed.

Jaker was in the dressing room in Arnos Vale when the fourth umpire went looking for him. TV cameras showed a bemused Jaker quickly putting his jersey back on and rushing to the field.

"I was not angry at Shamim. We have a great relationship. He is such a nice guy. I just didn't want to end my West Indies tour with that run-out, that's why I was behaving that way. Everyone was stunned to see me throw things around in the dressing room," he says.

He went on to make a quickfire 72, which inspired an 80-run win, giving Bangladesh the series 3-0. He was the side's highest run-getter on the tour, scoring four half-centuries and hitting 19 sixes. His character shone through under pressure. He batted skilfully with the tail in the Tests, put together big partnerships in the ODIs, and led the batting in the T20Is.

His form carried into the Champions Trophy in March this year. For Bangladesh, he was perhaps the sole bright spot in a tournament from which they were eliminated swiftly. In their first match, against India, Bangladesh slipped to 35 for 5. But Hridoy and Jaker combined to add 154 runs for the sixth wicket, taking them to 228. This time, Jaker played second fiddle, skilfully working the Indian spinners, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. It was his first taste of a top-class bowling attack in ODIs, and Jaker had done his homework. He felt that being prepared in the nets and having enough information about the Indian bowlers would be helpful.

"India has one of the best bowling attacks. They will pounce on your mistakes. They don't give you many chances. You have to be very careful and know what they are trying to do. Bowlers like Jadeja and Axar bowl at a certain pace. We were also playing on a tricky wicket in Dubai. I had prepared myself adequately. I try to understand how the opposition bowling unit is trying to attack me. They have different modes of attack for every batter," he says.

Jaker has had little time to reflect on his international career so far. Bangladesh have been playing almost non-stop over the last couple of years, and there's a lot of cricket ahead of them in 2025. Jaker believes in physical and mental preparation, but he has a singular goal.

"International cricket can be quite tough if you are not well prepared. You need courage to survive at the highest level. I want to play match-winning knocks for Bangladesh, even if it is a 20 or a 30. I want to contribute to the team's winning cause. A fifty or a century in a losing cause doesn't really count," he says.

Bangladesh's batters have relied on Jaker to clean up their messes - of which there have been many - in all three formats in the last couple of years. He doesn't seem to mind having to perform these rescue acts. In the process, he has provided glimpses of the batter he could be with a bit of support from the top and middle orders.