Sri Lanka overcomes Bangladesh to keep their World Cup tournament hopes alive

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs

Sri Lanka took four crucial dismissals in the decisive over to achieve a heart-stopping victory over their opponents and maintain their slim chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Chasing a modest score of 203 on a favorable wicket in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh wanted nine runs from the last six bowls.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu took three wickets in four deliveries and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to secure a thrilling victory for the Lankan team.

The triumph – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three losses and two abandoned games against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – moves them level on four tournament points with India and New Zealand, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, however, suffered a fifth successive setback since winning their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

Although the Bangladeshi side made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the first delivery of the encounter to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully penalized for a poor fielding performance.

They provided second chances to Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

While the Sri Lankan skipper could not capitalise, removed leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced the opposition regret it.

She registered a debut international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 balls and contributing to an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's 3-27, dragged themselves back in the game, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th bowling segment initiating a Lankan collapse from 174 for four to 202 total.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Madara and Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23 for one in a lacklustre opening overs and they were later reduced to 44-3.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their innings, contributing 82 runs for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin left the field injured for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of Bangladesh approaching the last two bowling phases, with only 12 more runs needed.

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

Ultimately, it was a contest of nerves. The highly experienced Athapaththu, who ushered away a several of team-mates as she set herself to bowl the final over, maintained hers. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be numerous questions about Bangladesh's batting effort. They could easily have been needing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka seeming comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but in contrast the chase was significantly less.

Yet, the batting side displayed insufficient aggression from the start, accumulating runs at under 2.5 runs per over during the powerplay, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately forcing themselves excessive to achieve.

But no matter what difficulties there are with their batting lineup, if they had seized their chances in the field, that 203-run target objective would have been substantially lower.

It needed them three attempts to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana failing to take a tough catch while keeping to dismiss Hasini Perera on her score of 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya.

The batter was missed further on 55 runs and 63 runs, the final opportunity traveling directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before ultimately being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she sought to increase the tempo with batting partners getting out near her.

Afterwards in the game, there was also a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, while the run-out chance was a little unlucky, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties after an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for Bangladesh, such fielding problems are nowhere near a isolated incident. They've failed to catch 14 catches from a available 27 opportunities at this competition and boast the poorest catch efficiency (less than 50%) of the competing sides.

They are a side who are generally heading in the right direction – they are competing in just their second one-day World Cup ultimately – but substandard fielding performance is a prominent issue which demands focus.