Bangladesh may have found the answer to their big-hitting no.6 in Jaker Ali

Jaker Ali played an excellent knock of 68 from just 34 balls to give Bangladesh hope of an unlikely win chasing 207 against Sri Lanka.

Although Bangladesh fell short by three runs, the innings will help massively in his future with the national team with a T20 World Cup fast approaching in June and the hosts looking for quick scorers in the middle-order. 

Jaker was among the runs in the recently-concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and that eventually led to his selection when Aliss Al Islam got injured.

"(Najmul Hossain) Shanto told me to be mentally prepared when Aliss Al Islam got injured. I was prepared for what was to come," he told the media in the post-match press conference. 

 "My BPL form really helped me here. We got here in Sylhet just two days after we finished the BPL in Dhaka. No changing in format was good for me. I also knew about this ground well, this being my home ground," he explained.

Jaker was forming a key counter-attacking partnership with experienced batter Mahmudullah Riyad, who was making a return to the national T20I team after a strong showing in the ODI World Cup last year. 

Their partnership of 47 took Bangladesh from a rather abysmal position of 68-4 to a slightly better 115-5.

During that partnership though, Mahmudullah was the aggressor, scoring 29 from 19 balls while Jaker scored 11 runs from 10 balls.

"Riyad bhai told me to bat normally. I didn't have any extra plans. He was getting boundaries with calculative risks. It freed me up. It made life easier for me.

But after Mahmudullah's dismissal, all hell broke loose as Jaker started to play his shots in a 65-run partnership with Mahedi Hasan where Jaker scored 43 from just 16 balls while Mahedi scored 16 from 11.

When Mahedi got out Bangladesh still needed 27 from 12 balls but Jaker took Matheesha Pathirana's last over for 15 runs to make it 12 needed from the last over with Rishad Hossain on strike.

However, Rishad would get dismissed in the first delivery of the last over, trying to go for a big hit on the offside with the mid-off inside the circle.

Taskin Ahmed would come in next and take a single before a wide was bowled by Dasun Shanaka to make the equation 10 needed from 4 balls.

But Shanaka showed his experience and guile to bowl a full delivery outside off to have Jaker hauling out at long off and Bangladesh's last recognised and best batter on the day out. 

"I asked Rishad to give me the strike but he got out. I was on strike when we needed 10 off the last four balls. I was confident that we could win the game. I was playing a good innings. I didn't connect the ball. It went to hand," he explained.

"If I had scored 10 or 12 runs in a winning effort, I would be more pleased. I played well but a win would have made me happier."

Jaker may not have pulled his side over the line, but he showed that he can be the big-hitting no.6 that Bangladesh have been looking for.

"My face is telling you how I felt. Losing is always heartbreaking. I didn't sleep the night after losing the BPL final. I would have felt great if we could have won today. I am planning for the next match already. We can take note of plenty of positives from today's game."

There may be another difficult night as far as sleep is concerned for Jaker, but there are big positives from this match, and his innings will go a long way in convincing everyone that Bangladesh have found the big-hitting batter down the order that they have been desperately looking for.