The Lankan team defeats Bangladesh to maintain their tournament hopes ongoing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team claimed four crucial dismissals in the last innings segment to achieve a thrilling triumph over Bangladesh and preserve their faint chances of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Chasing a attainable target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine runs from the final six balls.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu secured three wickets in four bowls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to secure a thrilling victory for the Lankan team.

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

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

Even though the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa striking with the first delivery of the match to remove Gunaratne, they were rightfully penalized for a poor fielding performance.

They gifted reprieves to Perera, who was spilled on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.

While the Sri Lankan skipper failed to make it count, sent back lbw for 46 just one delivery after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced the opposition suffer.

She scored a debut international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 balls and contributing to an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's 3-27, fought themselves back into the match, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th innings segment initiating a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Madara and Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23-1 in a disappointing initial phase and they were later reduced to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty rebuilt their batting effort, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th over.

It was advantage the chasing team heading into the final two innings segments, with just 12 more runs necessary.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and gave away only three scoring runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as the Lankan team seized the victory at the death.

Finally, it was a game of nerve. The seasoned Athapaththu, who moved aside a several of fellow players as she got ready to deliver the last over, maintained hers. The opposition could not.

There will be plenty of doubts about the team's batting effort. They possibly have been pursuing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka seeming at ease on 159-4 in the 30th bowling phase, but instead the chase was significantly less.

However, Bangladesh showed little intent from the very beginning, making runs at below 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, suffering a initial wicket loss, and ultimately making themselves overwhelming to do.

But whatever issues there are with their batting lineup, if they had seized their opportunities in the field, that 203-run target objective would have been substantially less.

It required them three tries to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with keeper Joty being unable to grab a challenging catch behind the stumps to remove Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu was spared from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya.

Perera was missed again on 55 runs and her score of 63, the last attempt going directly to Jhilik at cover position, before finally being trapped lbw by Shorna as she tried to up the ante with batting partners being dismissed near her.

Subsequently in the innings, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a failed run-out, while the run-out chance was a little unfortunate, with Jhilik deputising with the gloves following an injury to Joty.

Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are not at all a isolated incident. They've missed 14 chances from a potential 27 chances at this World Cup and display the worst fielding effectiveness (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are generally moving in the right direction – they are playing in merely their second 50-over World Cup after all – but substandard fielding is a prominent concern which demands attention.