Bangladesh middle order batter Jaker Ali Anik refused to give up the hopes of winning the Asia Cup trophy even though the defeat to Sri Lanka left their aspiration in limbo, reports BSS.
Jaker said one defeat shouldn't dash the hopes as they have still the chance to make it to Super 4.
"There's no point of giving up the hopes. We will play to win the match," Jaker said after the match against Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Bangladesh made a winning start to the Asia Cup, beating Hong Kong by seven wickets but lost to Sri Lanka by six wickets.
They will take on Afghanistan in their last match of the group phase on Tuesday, which now turned out to be 'a do or die' contest for them.
To keep the hopes of winning the elusive Asia Cup trophy live, they must move to next round and a victory against Afghanistan could make them relevant in the tournament.
But the meek surrender against Sri Lanka raised a question whether they can topple a team like Afghanistan.
"We have the mindset to win every match that we play in any place of the World. We will bring that approach in the next match too. There is no other way. We are not here to play matches only, we are here to become champions,"
Jaker noted.
"Losing one game doesn't mean losing hopes. We will go into the next match with an aim to win it."
After being sent to bat first, Bangladesh recovered from a 53-5 to put up 139-5 against Sri Lanka, a total proved to be insufficient. Bangladesh in fact wouldn't have gone past 100, had Jaker and Shamim Patwari not shared an 86-run partnership for the undefeated sixth wicket.
Jaker claimed that the wind had a significant impact while batting, "Since it was hot, the wind was a factor. On this ground, you can't hit on both sides.
They bowled well. As a batting unit, we didn't do well."
© 2025 - All Rights with The Financial Express
