The Lankan team defeats Bangladesh to preserve their World Cup tournament hopes alive

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs

Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the final innings segment to complete a thrilling win over Bangladesh and keep their faint aspirations of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals alive.

Pursuing a attainable score of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine runs from the last six bowls.

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

The triumph – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against the Australian team and New Zealand – elevates them level on four match points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, endured a fifth consecutive defeat since winning their initial game against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.

Although Bangladesh got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the game to remove Gunaratne, they were deservedly punished for a disappointing fielding performance.

They provided second chances to Hasini Perera, who was missed on three occasions, and Athapaththu.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper failed to make it count, removed lbw for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced the opposition pay.

She achieved a debut international 50-run score, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and sharing an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back to the match, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Sri Lanka downfall from 174-4 to 202 complete.

In reply, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23-1 in a disappointing opening overs and they were later reduced to 44-3.

Sharmin and Joty restored their innings, adding an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket before the batter withdrew due to injury for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team entering the remaining two bowling phases, with merely 12 runs necessary.

Nevertheless, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded only three runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as the Lankan team grabbed the win at the final moment.

In the end, it was a game of composure. The very experienced Athapaththu, who directed away a several of fellow players as she prepared to bowl the last over, kept her nerve. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be numerous inquiries about Bangladesh's batting performance. They might well have been chasing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka looking comfortable on 159-4 in the 30th over, but in contrast the target was significantly less.

However, the batting side lacked aggression from the start, accumulating runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, experiencing a top-order collapse, and ultimately forcing themselves excessive to do.

But no matter what issues there are with their batting lineup, if they had accepted their opportunities in the field, that 203-run goal would have been substantially less.

It took them three efforts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with keeper Nigar Sultana failing to grab a difficult catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance against Rabeya.

The batter was missed again on 55 runs and 63, the final opportunity flying right to Jhilik at cover field, before eventually being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna as she tried to increase the tempo with partners getting out around her.

Later in the innings, there was additionally a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, while the run-out chance was a somewhat unlucky, with Rubya Haider deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves due to an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding problems are far from a single occurrence. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a potential 27 at this World Cup and boast the poorest fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the participating teams.

They are a squad who are generally heading in the correct path – they are playing in only their second 50-over World Cup after all – but substandard fielding performance is a prominent issue which needs focus.