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

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs

Sri Lanka claimed four wickets in the final innings segment to achieve a nail-biting triumph over their opponents and maintain their faint aspirations of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Pursuing a below-par target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team required nine more runs from the remaining six deliveries.

However, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to secure a dramatic victory for Sri Lanka.

The win – Sri Lanka's initial of the tournament after three losses and two no-results against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – moves them tied on four match points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth consecutive loss since winning their first match against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.

Even though Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa striking with the initial ball of the game to remove Gunaratne, they were rightfully penalized for a subpar fielding effort.

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

Although the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to take advantage, sent back leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced the opposition pay.

She achieved a first international fifty, accumulating 85 from 99 bowls and sharing an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's 3-27, dragged themselves back into the contest, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.

During their chase, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a uninspiring opening overs and they were afterwards brought down to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their innings, adding an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket before the batter retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team heading into the remaining two bowling phases, with only 12 more runs required.

However, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and gave away only three runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka snatched the victory at the very end.

In the end, it was a contest of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a handful of fellow players as she got ready to bowl the last over, kept her composure. The opposition did not.

There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting effort. They could easily have been chasing around 270-280 with the Lankan team seeming settled on 159-4 in the 30th over, but in contrast the required total was much lower.

However, the batting side lacked intent from ball one, scoring at less than 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, experiencing a early batting collapse, and ultimately forcing themselves excessive to achieve.

But no matter what difficulties there are with their batting, if they had accepted their chances in the fielding department, that 203 total objective would have been significantly smaller.

It required them three tries to terminate the 72-run second-wicket association, with keeper Nigar Sultana not managing to grab a challenging catch while keeping to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was spilled again on 55 and her score of 63, the last attempt traveling straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before finally being dismissed lbw by Shorna as she tried to accelerate the scoring with partners being dismissed beside her.

Subsequently in the innings, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a failed run-out, even though the second one was a somewhat unfortunate, with Jhilik deputising with the gloves following an injury to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding woes are nowhere near a isolated incident. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a available 27 at this tournament and have the poorest catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the participating teams.

They are a squad who are typically moving in the right direction – they are playing in just their second 50-over World Cup after all – but substandard fielding standards is a obvious concern which demands improvement.