Sri Lanka overcomes the Bangladeshi side to maintain their campaign alive

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team took four wickets in the last innings segment to achieve a heart-stopping win over Bangladesh and preserve their narrow chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Pursuing a modest score of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team required nine additional runs from the last six bowls.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Athapaththu secured three wickets in four deliveries and de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to achieve a thrilling success for Sri Lanka.

The triumph – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three defeats and two washed-out matches against Australia and the Kiwi side – moves them equal on four match points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, experienced a fifth consecutive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

Even though the Bangladeshi side got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa striking with the opening bowl of the encounter to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were appropriately made to pay for a disappointing fielding display.

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

Although Athapaththu was unable to make it count, sent back lbw for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She achieved a debut international fifty, making 85 from 99 bowls and contributing to an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, pulled themselves back in the contest, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th innings segment initiating a Lankan downfall from 174-4 to 202 all out.

In reply, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Madara and Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23-1 in a uninspiring initial phase and they were later brought down to 44-3.

Sharmin and Joty restored their score, putting on 82 runs for the fourth wicket before the batter retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of Bangladesh entering the final two overs, with just 12 more runs needed.

However, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu and gave away just three runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa all removed as the Lankan team seized the victory at the very end.

In the end, it was a game of composure. The seasoned Athapaththu, who moved aside a few of fellow players as she set herself to bowl the last over, kept her composure. Bangladesh could not.

There will be numerous doubts about the team's batting display. They might well have been chasing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka looking comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the target was much lower.

However, the batting side lacked purpose from the very beginning, accumulating runs at below 2.5 runs per over during the initial phase, suffering a initial wicket loss, and ultimately leaving themselves too much to achieve.

But whatever problems there are with their batting, if they had accepted their chances in the field, that 203-run target goal would have been significantly lower.

It needed them three efforts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to take a difficult catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya.

The batter was missed once more on 55 runs and 63, the last attempt going straight to Jhilik at cover, before finally being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she tried to accelerate the scoring with teammates getting out around her.

Later in the batting effort, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, while the run-out chance was a little unlucky, with Rubya Haider substituting with the keeping duties following an injury to Joty.

Sadly for the team, such fielding issues are not at all a single occurrence. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a possible 27 at this World Cup and have the poorest fielding effectiveness (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are typically moving in the right direction – they are competing in just their second 50-over World Cup after all – but inadequate fielding performance is a glaring issue which requires attention.