Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to keep their World Cup tournament hopes alive

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team took four crucial dismissals in the final innings segment to seal a thrilling win over Bangladesh and maintain their slim hopes of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals alive.

Chasing a attainable score of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team needed nine runs from the last six deliveries.

However, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four balls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to secure a dramatic victory for Sri Lanka.

The win – Sri Lanka's first of the competition after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against the Australian team and New Zealand – elevates them tied on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who confront each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, suffered a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

Even though the Bangladeshi side got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the first delivery of the match to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a disappointing fielding performance.

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

While the Sri Lankan skipper could not make it count, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.

She scored a maiden international fifty, making 85 from 99 balls and building an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, pulled themselves back in the game, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment initiating a Sri Lanka downfall from 174 for four to 202 all out.

While batting second, the Lankan team's initial pace attack Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23 for one in a uninspiring initial phase and they were subsequently diminished to 44-3.

Sharmin and Joty reconstructed their batting effort, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket before the batter left the field injured for a determined 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

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

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu and gave away only three runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as the Lankan team seized the triumph at the very end.

Finally, it was a match of composure. The very experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a handful of team-mates as she set herself to bowl the last over, maintained hers. Bangladesh did not.

There will be numerous inquiries about the team's batting display. They might well have been pursuing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the chase was much lower.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh displayed insufficient purpose from the start, scoring at under 2.5 scoring rate during the initial phase, experiencing a early batting collapse, and ultimately leaving themselves excessive to do.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their chances in the field, that 203-run objective would have been considerably lower.

It required them three tries to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to take a difficult catch while keeping to remove Hasini Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was spilled once more on 55 runs and 63, the final opportunity going straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with batting partners being dismissed near her.

Subsequently in the batting effort, there was additionally a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, while the second one was a slightly regrettable, with Rubya Haider substituting with the wicketkeeping gloves after an physical problem to Joty.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are far from a single occurrence. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a available 27 opportunities at this tournament and boast the worst catching success rate (less than 50%) of the eight teams.

They are a team who are generally moving in the correct path – they are competing in merely their second ODI World Cup in the end – but substandard fielding is a glaring concern which demands attention.