The Lankan team defeats Bangladesh to preserve their tournament hopes alive

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team claimed four crucial dismissals in the final over to seal a heart-stopping win over their opponents and maintain their faint hopes of making it for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Pursuing a attainable score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the last six balls.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three crucial wickets in four balls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a dramatic victory for Sri Lanka.

The victory – the Lankan team's initial of the competition after three losses and two no-results against Australia and the Kiwi side – pushes them equal on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, experienced a fifth consecutive setback since winning their first match 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 dismiss Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a poor fielding performance.

They gifted second chances to Hasini Perera, who was missed multiple times, and Athapaththu.

Even though the Sri Lankan skipper failed to capitalise, removed lbw for 46 one ball after being put down by Rabeya, Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She scored a debut international half-century, making 85 from 99 balls and contributing to an significant 74-run partnership fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, pulled themselves back in the game, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th innings segment initiating a Lankan collapse from 174-4 to 202 total.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23-1 in a disappointing powerplay and they were later brought down to 44-3.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their innings, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket stand before the batter left the field injured for a determined 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was leaning toward the chasing team approaching the final two overs, with just 12 runs needed.

However, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and conceded only three runs before Athapaththu's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka snatched the triumph at the death.

In the end, it was a contest of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a handful of fellow players as she prepared to deliver the last over, maintained her nerve. The opposition failed to.

There will be many doubts about the team's batting display. They possibly have been pursuing 270 or 280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the required total was significantly less.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh lacked intent from ball one, scoring at under 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, experiencing a top-order collapse, and finally making themselves excessive to accomplish.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their catches in the field, that 203-run target target would have been substantially less.

It took them three attempts to end the 72-run second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Joty not managing to hold a challenging catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Perera on 23 before Athapaththu was spared from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was dropped further on 55 runs and her score of 63, the latter chance going right to Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna as she attempted to up the ante with teammates getting out beside her.

Afterwards in the innings, there was also a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the latter was a little regrettable, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties due to an physical problem to Joty.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding problems are not at all a single occurrence. They've missed 14 opportunities from a possible 27 chances at this World Cup and have the poorest catching success rate (less than 50%) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are generally moving in the correct path – they are competing in merely their second 50-over World Cup in the end – but poor fielding is a obvious issue which requires improvement.