Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their tournament hopes breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

The Lankan team 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 emerge victorious by seven runs

Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the final innings segment to achieve a heart-stopping win over Bangladesh and maintain their slim hopes of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Pursuing a attainable target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine runs from the last six bowls.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu secured three wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a dramatic win for the Lankan team.

The win – Sri Lanka's maiden of the competition after three losses and two no-results against Australia and the Kiwi side – moves them tied on four match points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth successive setback since securing victory in their first match against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Even though the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the game to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a poor fielding performance.

They gifted lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was dropped three times, and the Lankan captain.

While Athapaththu failed to take advantage, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being put down by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.

She scored a maiden international 50-run score, scoring 85 from 99 bowls and building an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back in the contest, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th bowling segment initiating a Lankan downfall from 174-4 to 202 total.

In reply, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23-1 in a disappointing opening overs and they were subsequently reduced to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Joty reconstructed their innings, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of Bangladesh heading into the last two bowling phases, with merely 12 runs required.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and gave away just three scoring runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka grabbed the triumph at the death.

Ultimately, it was a contest of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a few of fellow players as she prepared to deliver the decisive over, maintained her composure. Bangladesh did not.

There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting effort. They possibly have been needing 270 or 280 with the Lankan team looking at ease on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but instead the target was considerably smaller.

However, Bangladesh displayed insufficient aggression from the start, making runs at less than 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, suffering a initial wicket loss, and finally making themselves overwhelming to accomplish.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their catches in the fielding area, that 203-run objective would have been considerably smaller.

It required them three tries to end the 72-run second-wicket, with keeper Nigar Sultana failing to hold a challenging chance while keeping to send back Perera on her score of 23 before Athapaththu survived from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was dropped again on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the last attempt going right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before eventually being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she attempted to increase the tempo with teammates falling near her.

Afterwards in the batting effort, there was also a failed stumping and a missed run-out, while the second one was a little regrettable, with Rubya Haider deputising with the keeping duties following an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are not at all a isolated incident. They've missed 14 chances from a possible 27 chances at this competition and boast the lowest catching success rate (less than 50%) of the competing sides.

They are a squad who are generally heading in the proper way – they are competing in merely their second one-day World Cup after all – but inadequate fielding performance is a glaring concern which demands attention.