The Lankan team overcomes Bangladesh to keep their World Cup tournament hopes alive

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27

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

The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka took four wickets in the decisive innings segment to achieve a heart-stopping win over their opponents and keep their narrow chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Needing a attainable total of 203 on a favorable wicket in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh required nine more runs from the remaining six balls.

However, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu secured three wickets in four deliveries and de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a dramatic success for Sri Lanka.

The victory – the Lankan team's initial of the competition after three defeats and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four tournament points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, experienced a fifth successive defeat since winning their initial game against Pakistan and have been knocked out.

Although Bangladesh made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the match to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a poor fielding display.

They gifted second chances to Hasini Perera, who was dropped three times, and Athapaththu.

Even though Athapaththu could not make it count, sent back leg before wicket for 46 one ball after being missed by Rabeya, Hasini Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She registered a maiden international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and sharing an significant 74-run fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna Akter's 3-27, dragged themselves back in the contest, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th innings segment causing a Lankan batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 total.

In reply, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a disappointing opening overs and they were afterwards diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin and Joty reconstructed their innings, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket before the batter withdrew due to injury for a determined 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team heading into the remaining two overs, with only 12 runs needed.

Nevertheless, Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and gave away merely three scoring runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as the Lankan team grabbed the win at the final moment.

Ultimately, it was a match of nerve. The seasoned Athapaththu, who directed away a several of fellow players as she set herself to bowl the last over, kept hers. The opposition could not.

There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting performance. They might well have been needing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka appearing at ease on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but in contrast the target was significantly less.

Yet, Bangladesh showed little purpose from the very beginning, making runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, undergoing a early batting collapse, and ultimately making themselves too much to do.

But no matter what issues there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their opportunities in the field, that 203-run target target would have been significantly lower.

It required them three attempts to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Nigar Sultana failing to grab a difficult catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Perera on 23 before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a return catch chance against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was missed further on 55 and 63 runs, the final opportunity going right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before ultimately being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she sought to accelerate the scoring with teammates falling near her.

Later in the innings, there was furthermore a missed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the second one was a slightly unlucky, with Rubya Haider substituting with the gloves due to an physical problem to Joty.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding problems are far from a isolated incident. They've failed to catch 14 catches from a potential 27 opportunities at this competition and display the lowest catch efficiency (less than 50%) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are typically moving in the right direction – they are participating in only their second 50-over World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding performance is a prominent problem which requires attention.