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

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka secured four crucial dismissals in the final over to complete a thrilling win over Bangladesh and keep their faint aspirations of making it for the tournament knockout stage alive.

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

Yet, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three important dismissals in four deliveries and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to secure a exciting success for the Lankan team.

The victory – the Lankan team's maiden of the competition after three unsuccessful matches and two abandoned games against Australia and the Kiwi side – pushes them equal on four match points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, endured a fifth successive loss since securing victory in their initial game against Pakistan and have been knocked out.

While the Bangladeshi side made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the encounter to dismiss Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a poor fielding effort.

They gifted lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was missed on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.

Even though the Sri Lankan skipper could not make it count, removed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being dropped by Rabeya, Perera made the opposition pay.

She scored a debut international half-century, accumulating 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an significant 74-run fifth-wicket with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back to the match, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 for four to 202 total.

In reply, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a disappointing initial phase and they were subsequently diminished to 44-3.

Sharmin and Joty restored their score, adding an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of Bangladesh heading into the remaining two overs, with merely 12 runs necessary.

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu and conceded merely three runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all dismissed as Sri Lanka grabbed the triumph at the death.

Finally, it was a contest of nerve. The seasoned Lankan captain, who moved aside a handful of teammates as she prepared to deliver the final over, kept her nerve. The opposition did not.

There will be plenty of questions about Bangladesh's batting effort. They might well have been needing around 270-280 with the Lankan team looking settled on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but instead the required total was much lower.

Yet, Bangladesh displayed insufficient aggression from ball one, making runs at less than 2.5 runs per over during the opening overs, undergoing a initial wicket loss, and eventually leaving themselves too much to accomplish.

But whatever issues there are with their batting, if they had taken their chances in the field, that 203 total target would have been significantly less.

It took them three attempts to terminate the 72-run second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana not managing to take a tough opportunity behind the stumps to send back Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya.

Perera was missed once more on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity going straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before finally being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she attempted to increase the tempo with partners being dismissed around her.

Later in the innings, there was also a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the second one was a somewhat regrettable, with Jhilik deputising with the keeping duties after an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are nowhere near a isolated incident. They've dropped 14 catches from a available 27 at this World Cup and boast the lowest catching success rate (less than 50%) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are overall moving in the right direction – they are participating in just their second ODI World Cup in the end – but poor fielding is a prominent problem which requires improvement.