Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to keep their tournament hopes ongoing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team took four crucial dismissals in the final innings segment to complete a heart-stopping triumph over their opponents and preserve their narrow aspirations of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Needing a below-par score of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the final six deliveries.

However, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu secured three important dismissals in four deliveries and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to secure a exciting success for Sri Lanka.

The win – the Lankan team's initial of the tournament after three defeats and two no-results against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – elevates them level on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, however, endured a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

Even though Bangladesh got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa striking with the first delivery of the encounter to send back Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a subpar fielding display.

They gifted lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Although Athapaththu was unable to capitalise, dismissed lbw for 46 just one delivery after being dropped by Rabeya, Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She achieved a first international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 balls and sharing an important 74-run partnership fifth-wicket with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back into the game, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th bowling segment causing a Sri Lanka downfall from 174 for four to 202 total.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a disappointing opening overs and they were subsequently brought down to 44-3.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their score, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was advantage the chasing team heading into the last two bowling phases, with only 12 more runs needed.

However, Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and gave away just three runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as the Lankan team snatched the win at the very end.

Ultimately, it was a game of nerve. The very experienced Lankan captain, who moved aside a several of fellow players as she set herself to bowl the last over, maintained her nerve. The opposition could not.

There will be many questions about Bangladesh's batting effort. They could easily have been needing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka seeming settled on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the target was considerably smaller.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh showed little purpose from the very beginning, accumulating runs at under 2.5 runs per over during the opening overs, suffering a early batting collapse, and eventually forcing themselves too much to accomplish.

But whatever issues there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their catches in the fielding area, that 203-run objective would have been considerably smaller.

It needed them three tries to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to hold a challenging chance while keeping to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu survived from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was spilled once more on her score of 55 and 63, the final opportunity flying right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before ultimately being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she attempted to up the ante with teammates getting out near her.

Afterwards in the game, there was also a missed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the second one was a slightly unfortunate, with Rubya Haider standing in with the keeping duties after an injury to Joty.

Regrettably for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are not at all a isolated incident. They've failed to catch 14 catches from a potential 27 chances at this tournament and have the lowest fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the competing sides.

They are a team who are overall moving in the right direction – they are competing in merely their second one-day World Cup ultimately – but poor fielding standards is a obvious issue which requires focus.