The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to maintain their World Cup tournament hopes ongoing

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team secured four wickets in the final innings segment to achieve a thrilling triumph over Bangladesh and keep their narrow chances of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Pursuing a below-par score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine more runs from the final six bowls.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three important dismissals in four deliveries and de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a dramatic victory for the Lankan team.

The win – the Lankan team's maiden of the World Cup after three losses and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four tournament points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, endured a fifth successive loss since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been eliminated.

Although Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa striking with the initial ball of the match to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a disappointing fielding display.

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

Although the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 just one delivery after being dropped by Rabeya, Perera forced the opposition pay.

She scored a debut international half-century, making 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, pulled themselves back in the game, with De Silva's removal in the 34th over triggering a Sri Lanka collapse from 174-4 to 202 total.

While batting second, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a disappointing initial phase and they were later brought down to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty rebuilt their score, contributing 82 runs for the fourth wicket before the batter withdrew due to injury for a determined 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh approaching the final two innings segments, with merely 12 additional runs necessary.

However, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and allowed just three runs before the captain's dramatic spell, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as Sri Lanka grabbed the victory at the very end.

Finally, it was a contest of nerves. The seasoned Athapaththu, who ushered away a several of fellow players as she got ready to deliver the last over, maintained hers. The opposition failed to.

There will be plenty of inquiries about the team's batting display. They might well have been needing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka appearing comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but instead the chase was much lower.

However, Bangladesh showed little intent from ball one, making runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, undergoing a initial wicket loss, and eventually forcing themselves overwhelming to accomplish.

But whatever problems there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their catches in the field, that 203 total target would have been substantially smaller.

It required them three attempts to break the 72-run stand second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Nigar Sultana failing to take a difficult catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled further on 55 runs and 63, the final opportunity traveling directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before finally being given out leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she attempted to increase the tempo with batting partners being dismissed near her.

Later in the innings, there was furthermore a missed stumping and a failed run-out, although the latter was a little unlucky, with Rubya Haider standing in with the wicketkeeping gloves following an injury to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding issues are far from a single occurrence. They've failed to catch 14 opportunities from a available 27 at this tournament and display the lowest catching success rate (48.1%) of the eight teams.

They are a team who are generally heading in the right direction – they are playing in merely their second 50-over World Cup after all – but poor fielding performance is a glaring issue which requires attention.