'The board doesn't look at him probably because he is not good looking': Salahuddin on Jaker not getting national team call-up

Comilla Victorians head coach Mohammad Salahuddin slammed the national team's selection policy after the squads for the upcoming Sri Lanka series were announced. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the T20I side on Tuesday keeping five openers and two middle-order batters in the squad.

According to Salahuddin, Jaker Ali is currently the best number six batter after Mahmudullah in Bangladesh's cricket fraternity but he is ignored probably because he is not good-looking.

"You forget Jaker most of the time. Maybe he's not that good looking and maybe the board doesn't look at him for that. You look for players to bat at number six and seven and this guy has been doing well for the last two years. He scores runs at the crucial moment for us and is sensible. I feel that this boy should be given the opportunity," Salahuddin said after Comilla's win over Khulna on Wednesday where Jaker scored 40 off 31 balls accompanying Tawhid Hridoy.

"I saw the Bangladesh team and there are five openers and just two middle-order batters. Maybe there is an advantage that Bangladesh will always open even in the 16th or 17th over. Even looking at today during a bad period we had a good partnership and his strike rate was still 130," he added.

Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar are all openers who will bat in different positions when they cannot find the opening spot. Salahuddin argued that he does not understand how the Bangladesh team is selected since there are five openers, with only two in Hridoy and Mahmudullah Riyad, who were picked for middle-order batting positions.

"You have five openers in there including Soumya. So they are all new ball players and will bat at the front end. Who will bat lower down the order?" Salahuddin asked.

"Maybe one from among these openers would go down and bat there but he isn't used to it. Since they are not used to it, you would be making a mistake expecting performance from them. I believe picking the right player in the right spot is very important," he added.

I think, as you said, that maybe they look at runs. Someone scored lots of runs at the top order and was picked. A guy batting at five, won't score a fifty, maybe he will score 20 off 5 and the team will win or lose and making the team that way would be better," he concluded.