Sri Lanka beats the Bangladeshi side to maintain their tournament hopes ongoing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Hasini Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27

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

Sri Lanka win by seven runs

Sri Lanka secured four crucial dismissals in the last innings segment to achieve a nail-biting win over Bangladesh and preserve their faint chances of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Chasing a modest total of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the last six bowls.

However, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu secured three wickets in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to bring about a exciting success for Sri Lanka.

The win – the Lankan team's first of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four tournament points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, experienced a fifth successive loss since winning their first match against Pakistan and have been eliminated.

Although Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa striking with the opening bowl of the encounter to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a poor fielding performance.

They gifted lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was missed multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to make it count, removed lbw for 46 just one delivery after being missed by Rabeya, Perera made the opposition suffer.

She achieved a debut international 50-run score, scoring 85 from 99 bowls and building an significant 74-run fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, pulled themselves back in the game, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th over triggering a Lankan collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.

During their chase, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23-1 in a disappointing initial phase and they were subsequently reduced to 44 for three.

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

It was leaning toward the chasing team approaching the remaining two overs, with just 12 more runs required.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu and gave away merely three runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as the Lankan team seized the triumph at the final moment.

Ultimately, it was a game of composure. The very experienced Athapaththu, who ushered away a several of fellow players as she got ready to bowl the final over, kept her composure. Bangladesh could not.

There will be plenty of inquiries about the team's batting display. They could easily have been pursuing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka appearing settled on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the chase was significantly less.

Yet, the batting side displayed insufficient purpose from ball one, scoring at below 2.5 scoring rate during the initial phase, suffering a top-order collapse, and ultimately forcing themselves excessive to accomplish.

But no matter what issues there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their catches in the fielding area, that 203 total objective would have been substantially less.

It took them three tries to end the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to hold a tough catch while keeping to remove Perera on her score of 23 before Athapaththu was spared from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya.

Perera was spilled once more on 55 runs and 63 runs, the last attempt flying directly to Jhilik at cover position, before ultimately being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she sought to increase the tempo with partners getting out around her.

Afterwards in the innings, there was additionally a failed stumping and a failed run-out, although the second one was a somewhat unlucky, with Rubya Haider substituting with the wicketkeeping gloves due to an injury to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding problems are nowhere near a one-off. They've failed to catch 14 chances from a possible 27 opportunities at this tournament and boast the worst catching success rate (48.1%) of the eight teams.

They are a side who are typically moving in the correct path – they are playing in only their second ODI World Cup after all – but substandard fielding is a obvious concern which requires attention.