Sri Lanka overcomes Bangladesh to preserve their World Cup tournament hopes breathing

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): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka claimed four crucial dismissals in the final innings segment to complete a heart-stopping win over Bangladesh and maintain their faint aspirations of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Pursuing a attainable score of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the final six deliveries.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu claimed three crucial wickets in four balls and de Silva ran out Nahida to secure a exciting victory for Sri Lanka.

The win – the Lankan team's initial of the tournament after three losses and two washed-out matches against Australia and the Kiwi side – pushes them level on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on Thursday.

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

Although Bangladesh got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the first delivery of the game to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a poor fielding performance.

They gifted second chances to Perera, who was dropped on three occasions, and Athapaththu.

Although Athapaththu could not take advantage, sent back leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Perera made the opposition pay.

She scored a debut international half-century, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and sharing an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna's 3-27, pulled themselves back into the contest, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Sri Lanka downfall from 174 with four wickets down to 202 complete.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a uninspiring opening overs and they were subsequently brought down to 44 for three.

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

It was in favor of the chasing team heading into the last two innings segments, with merely 12 additional runs required.

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

Ultimately, it was a contest of composure. The very experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a few of fellow players as she got ready to bowl the decisive over, kept her composure. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be plenty of inquiries about Bangladesh's batting display. They possibly have been chasing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka seeming at ease on 159-4 in the 30th over, but instead the chase was considerably smaller.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh lacked intent from ball one, scoring at less than 2.5 runs per over during the powerplay, suffering a initial wicket loss, and finally making themselves overwhelming to accomplish.

But whatever difficulties there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their chances in the fielding area, that 203 total target would have been significantly lower.

It took them three tries to break the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to take a difficult catch behind the stumps to dismiss Perera on 23 before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was dropped further on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the latter chance flying directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before finally being given out leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she sought to increase the tempo with partners getting out near her.

Later in the game, there was furthermore a stumping chance missed and a failed run-out, while the second one was a little regrettable, with Jhilik deputising with the gloves following an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding problems are not at all a one-off. They've dropped 14 chances from a possible 27 opportunities at this World Cup and have the lowest fielding effectiveness (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a team who are overall heading in the correct path – they are playing in just their second one-day World Cup in the end – but poor fielding performance is a prominent problem which demands focus.