'Going there to win the championship...': Bangladesh batter shares ambitious statement ahead of Asia Cup 2025

Bangladesh batter Jaker Ali gave a confident statement ahead of the commencement of Asia Cup 2025. He remarked that the Tigers are heading into the tournament with the goal of winning the trophy despite having never won it before in history. Notably, the side has reached the final of the continental tournament on three occasions, but they lost each and every time.

Their first loss in an Asia Cup final came against Pakistan in 2012 before India defeated them in 2016 and 2018. However, the Bangladesh side comes into the tournament having defeated both Sri Lanka and Pakistan in back-to-back series victories.

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Withe the 2025 edition of the tournament on the cards, Jaker revealed that the mood in the Bangladesh dressing room is quite positive and the team has the ambition of becoming Asia Cup champions for the first time ever.

“Of course. This time we are going to the Asia Cup with the goal of becoming champions. Personally, I can say that I am going there only to win the championship. And everyone in the dressing room also believes it. Especially with the environment we have right now and the kind of effort everyone is putting in, we all believe that this time we will go to become champions,” Jaker told reporters in a press-conference.

‘There’s no chance of taking things lightly. Our mindset is that our plan will remain the same — the way we usually play our brand of cricket, we’ll play the same way against any team. So we’ll prepare in that manner to ensure we can deliver a good performance,” he added.

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Jaker has so far made 33 appearances for Bangladesh in T20Is. He has scored a total of 571 runs in the format, including three half-centuries. The 27-year-old maintains a decent average of 27.19 and has the highest individual score of 71*. He will definitely be looking to contribute well with the bat in the upcoming continental tournament.

Bangladesh in a tough group

Meanwhile, Bangladesh are present in Group B of the Asia Cup alongside Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. They will begin their campaign with the clash against Hong Kong on September 11 before locking horns against Sri Lanka on September 13. They will wrap up their group stage with the match against Afghanistan on September 16.