The recently concluded Pakistan and Bangladesh was won by the home side by the margin of 2-1 and it was the first time Bangladesh won a bilateral T20 series against their neighbour country, Pakistan.
Besides the pacers it was the effort of Jaker Ali who stood tall in the second T20 making sure his side doesn’t ruin an ideal chance of winning the T20i series against Pakistan and their successive T20 series win too after a dull start of the year 2025.
After the second T20i, Jaker explained how his captain Litton Das gave him a plan B, after Bangladesh lost 4 wickets inside the powerplay.
“The captain had given me a separate plan after we lost wickets quickly,” Jaker said. “We had come into the game knowing that the conditions wouldn’t allow for a high-scoring match. I thought it was a 155-160 wicket, but the captain told me to go for 140. I think we were seven runs short. If I had hit a six off the last ball, we would have given them that target. I think this is a good approach, where I know my goal.”
After being called in to bat by Pakistani captain Salman Agha, Bangladesh fell to 28 for 4 inside the powerplay. To put Bangladesh out of difficulty, Jaker and Mahedi contributed 53 runs for the fifth wicket.
With two sixes and two fours in his 25-ball score of 33, Mahedi was the first to attack. Jaker, on the other hand, persevered till the end. Jaker was lucky enough as his catch was dropped by Khushdil Shah and he used that luck impressively.
“[Mahedi] played a very important innings. When he started to attack their bowlers, I was playing a supporting role,” Jaker said. “We could have had a bigger score had he been there till the end.”
“I have always batted at No. 7 since my age-group days, so I know how to bat with the tail,” he said. “I once added 71 runs with the tail to score a century in the Under-17s. I don’t worry too much about batting with the tail. I just try to save the guy at the other end, and get the runs.”
On the day, though, he was at No. 5, a higher-than-usual position for him.
“I knew well ahead that I would bat at No. 5. I was mentally prepared. I batted in this position in the West Indies too,” he said. “I stuck to my usual routines. I have been working at it for the last two years with our batting coach [Mohammad Salahuddin]. I only count match-winning runs. The rest doesn’t register with me.”
In response to chasing 134, Pakistan lost their 5 wickets for just 15 runs and yet ended up losing by just 8 runs. Jaker said he expected Pakistan to fight back despite losing early wickets and when Faheem Ashraf began the counter back Bangladesh held their nerves and stood tall under the pump.
“This is usually how T20 cricket happens. We were not too surprised that they fought back. We made some mistakes in fielding but look at the catch Shamim [Hossain] took at the end [for the last wicket, of Ahmed Daniyal]. This is how you win tight games,” Jaker said. “We also fought hard with the bat when we lost early wickets. Winning is all that matters in the end.”
