A dropped catch adds to Tigers' headaches

Jaker Ali had a bad day with the gloves in the second Twenty20 International against Zimbabwe yesterday, dropping a sitter off debutant Jonathon Campbell which allowed the visitors post a respectable total and added to Bangladesh's headaches heading into the ICC T20 World Cup.

Jaker, who was preferred over Liton Das as the wicketkeeper in the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe in Chattogram, gave Campbell a life on one in the penultimate ball of the 11th over.

The left-handed Campbell attempted a slog sweep against off-spinner Mahedi Hasan, only to top-edge the ball to the square-leg region.

Jaker did everything right, called for the catch to avoid a collision with Shoriful Islam, got himself in position to collect the incoming ball, and looked set to complete what was a regulation catch for any wicketkeeper.

But the 26-year-old made a mess of it in the final moment and dropped it.

Campbell made the Tigers pay, scoring 45 off just 24 balls and putting together a 73-run stand off 43 balls for the sixth wicket with Brian Bennet to help the visitors set up a 139-run chase for the Tigers.

The dropped catch from Jaker made the equation a little harder for the Tigers in the second T20I but more importantly, it added another worry for the team's think tank heading into the T20 World Cup in June.

Even though the selectors are yet to officially announce the 15-man squad that they have submitted at the ICC for the World Cup, it would be safe to assume that at least two wicketkeepers have been named in the squad.

Judging by the teams selected in Tigers' recent T20I assignments, the two selected keepers are most likely Liton and Jaker.

Liton has been the team's first-choice keeper in the shortest format since the T20 World Cup in 2022, having kept wickets in every T20I he has played since, before handing the gloves over to Jaker for the first two matches of the ongoing series.

This was a clear indication that the management wanted to try out Jaker as a wicketkeeping option ahead of the tournament, and so far, they are unlikely to be happy with what they have seen.

Jaker's keeping looked shoddy in the first T20I where he failed to collect the ball cleanly on multiple occasions before dropping a simple catch in the second match.

Seeing Jaker make elementary errors, the management would probably be less likely to keep faith on him in the World Cup, which would make Liton an automatic choice in the playing eleven.

Now, given Liton's poor form with the bat, there were talks about sitting him out of the playing eleven and trying out Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Soumya Sarkar as the opening pair.

But if Liton becomes an automatic choice as a keeper, he is almost certain to continue as an opener in the tournament, hampering the team's flexibility.

And if the Tigers drop Liton, they would have to include Jaker as the wicketkeeper, whose glovework at the moment is inconsistent to say the least. Either way, the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe have already added another headache for the Tigers' management ahead of the World Cup.