Sri Lanka overcomes the Bangladeshi side to keep their World Cup tournament hopes ongoing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna Akter 3-27

The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs

Sri Lanka secured four crucial dismissals in the last over to seal a thrilling win over Bangladesh and preserve their slim chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Chasing a below-par score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh required nine more runs from the last six deliveries.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three crucial wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a exciting win for the Lankan team.

The triumph – the Lankan team's maiden of the competition after three defeats and two washed-out matches against Australia and New Zealand – moves them tied on four points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, however, suffered a fifth successive setback since securing victory in their first match against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

Even though the Bangladeshi side made the excellent commencement, with Marufa striking with the initial ball of the encounter to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a disappointing fielding effort.

They provided second chances to Hasini Perera, who was missed on three occasions, and Athapaththu.

Even though Athapaththu could not take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 a single bowl after being dropped by Rabeya, Perera forced the opposition regret it.

She achieved a debut international fifty, accumulating 85 from 99 balls and building an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket association with De Silva.

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back into the contest, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th bowling segment causing a Lankan batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 complete.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23-1 in a lacklustre initial phase and they were subsequently brought down to 44 for three.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their batting effort, contributing an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team approaching the final two innings segments, with just 12 additional runs necessary.

Nevertheless, Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and conceded only three scoring runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa all sent back as Sri Lanka seized the triumph at the very end.

In the end, it was a match of nerves. The highly experienced Athapaththu, who directed away a several of teammates as she set herself to deliver the final over, kept her nerve. The opposition failed to.

There will be many questions about Bangladesh's batting performance. They might well have been chasing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka seeming settled on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the required total was significantly less.

However, Bangladesh lacked intent from the very beginning, accumulating runs at below 2.5 runs each over during the initial phase, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately forcing themselves overwhelming to do.

But whatever difficulties there are with their batting lineup, if they had taken their chances in the fielding area, that 203 total objective would have been significantly lower.

It required them three attempts to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket collaboration, with wicketkeeper Joty failing to grab a challenging opportunity as wicketkeeper to send back Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance against Rabeya.

The batter was missed again on her score of 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling straight to Jhilik at cover field, before ultimately being given out lbw by Shorna as she attempted to up the ante with teammates getting out beside her.

Later in the batting effort, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, while the latter was a little regrettable, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves due to an physical problem to Joty.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are nowhere near a one-off. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a potential 27 opportunities at this World Cup and have the worst catch efficiency (less than 50%) of the eight teams.

They are a side who are overall progressing in the right direction – they are competing in only their second one-day World Cup ultimately – but inadequate fielding performance is a prominent problem which requires attention.