Jaker happy to fulfil his mother's dreams, has big plans for the T20 World Cup

There was already a discussion about Jaker Ali's prospects of doing well for the national team before he made his debut. 

Those discussions only intensified with his performances in the last BPL. 

The wicket-keeper batter, who played some effective innings for Comilla Victorians, was initially not considered for the series against Sri Lanka earlier this year. 

Jaker was called up due to an injury to spinner Aliss Al Islam in the series held at home last March. 

When he got a chance, he played an innings of 68 runs from 34 balls showing great power-hitting in the first T20I. 

From there he became a regular member. 

Along with the remaining two T20I matches that series, he also got the opportunity to play matches against Zimbabwe at home and the United States away. 

Jaker has so far played 13 matches in this format after making his debut in the national team. 

This cricketer from Habiganj is on the way to fulfilling his dream of playing in the World Cup after being selected in the World Cup squad. 

Jaker has big dreams about the World Cup, he wants to do something big for the country. 

This 26-year-old cricketer is confident of giving his best on the world stage. 

In a video posted on Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) socials on Tuesday, he said, "I want us as a team to perform well in every match and win. I want to do something great for my country. There will be a desire to achieve things that I could not achieve before."

After hearing the news that he had made it to the World Cup team, Jaker started planning his game according to the opposition. 

"Since I heard that I am in the team, I have started watching other matches involving teams in the World Cup. I'm working on how to play against whom and what kind of strategy to take against which opponent," he said.

Bangladesh's World Cup team this year depends on youth, and Jaker is one of them. 

However, in the context of Bangladesh, he got an opportunity a little later than others, but he quickly became an important member of the team. 

Talking about adapting to the team, Jaker said, "I really liked the way I was welcomed in the team. That was really special." 

Apart from team expectations, and his own World Cup plans, Jaker told the story of growing up with cricket around him. 

"I used to watch cricket a lot growing up. I have been following Bangladesh cricket very well since 2007. I started to understand cricket better from that World Cup in West Indies. Since then, I really wanted to play cricket for Bangladesh. Playing for the country is the biggest thing. If it's on a stage like the World Cup, it's even more special," he explained. 

Jaker's dream was to play in the national team and his mother had the same dream. 

He is even happier to be able to fulfil his mother's dream. 

"Everyone around me is very proud. My mother had a dream that I would play for the country. She always used to say, 'When will you play in the team of your idols like Tamim (Iqbal), Shakib (Al Hasan) and Mashrafe (Mortaza)?' This was my mother's dream. And now she is very proud. As long as my father was alive, he used to take me to the field. When my father passed away, my sister would take me," he added.

Jaker became interested in cricket after seeing his older brother. 

He started playing professionally through the BKSP. 

Expressing gratitude to everyone who supported his journey, Jaker said, "Seeing my older brother made me interested in playing cricket. When I started watching cricket, my brother was already playing cricket."

"For these reasons, I got good support from everyone. I gave a trial at BKSP in 2010, and after coming here my dreams started to grow. In the beginning, the dream was not so big. But when I came here and saw my seniors, I felt that my dreams should be bigger. If I had been sitting in Habiganj, I don't think I could have come this far.'' he concluded.