The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to keep their World Cup campaign breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs

Sri Lanka claimed four wickets in the decisive over to seal a thrilling win over Bangladesh and keep their narrow chances of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Pursuing a attainable target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the remaining six bowls.

However, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu took three wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to secure a dramatic victory for the Lankan team.

The triumph – the Lankan team's first of the tournament after three losses and two abandoned games against Australia and the Kiwi side – elevates them tied on four points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, suffered a fifth consecutive loss since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.

While Bangladesh made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the encounter to send back Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a disappointing fielding effort.

They gifted reprieves to Hasini Perera, who was dropped on three occasions, and Athapaththu.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper could not make it count, removed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition regret it.

She achieved a maiden international half-century, accumulating 85 from 99 bowls and sharing an significant 74-run partnership fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna Akter's 3-27, dragged themselves back in the game, with De Silva's removal in the 34th over initiating a Sri Lanka collapse from 174-4 to 202 all out.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a disappointing powerplay and they were afterwards diminished to 44-3.

Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their innings, adding 82 for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th innings segment.

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

However, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and allowed only three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as the Lankan team grabbed the win at the very end.

Finally, it was a contest of composure. The seasoned Lankan captain, who moved aside a few of fellow players as she prepared to bowl the final over, held her composure. Bangladesh did not.

There will be plenty of inquiries about Bangladesh's batting display. They possibly have been chasing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka seeming comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but instead the chase was considerably smaller.

Nevertheless, the batting side showed little intent from ball one, scoring at under 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, undergoing a initial wicket loss, and eventually forcing themselves excessive to accomplish.

But whatever issues there are with their batting lineup, if they had seized their chances in the fielding department, that 203-run target would have been considerably lower.

It needed them three efforts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana failing to take a challenging chance behind the stumps to send back Hasini Perera on 23 runs before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled chance possibility against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was missed again on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the final opportunity traveling straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before ultimately being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna as she tried to increase the tempo with batting partners getting out beside her.

Subsequently in the game, there was furthermore a stumping chance missed and a failed run-out, even though the second one was a somewhat unfortunate, with Jhilik deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves after an fitness issue to Joty.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding problems are far from a one-off. They've dropped 14 chances from a possible 27 chances at this tournament and display the worst fielding effectiveness (48.1 percent) of the participating teams.

They are a squad who are generally moving in the proper way – they are competing in only their second one-day World Cup after all – but substandard fielding performance is a prominent concern which demands attention.