Sri Lanka overcomes the Bangladeshi side to keep their World Cup campaign ongoing

Women's Cricket World Cup, 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

The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka took four crucial dismissals in the last innings segment to complete a heart-stopping triumph over their opponents and maintain their slim chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Chasing a attainable total of 203 on a favorable wicket in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine additional runs from the remaining six bowls.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu took three wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to secure a dramatic success for the Lankan team.

The victory – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three defeats and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – moves them equal on four tournament points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, experienced a fifth successive loss since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.

Even though Bangladesh got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa taking a wicket with the first delivery of the match to remove Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a subpar fielding effort.

They provided second chances to Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and Athapaththu.

While Athapaththu could not capitalise, sent back lbw for 46 just one delivery after being dropped by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made the opposition suffer.

She scored a first international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 deliveries and sharing an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, dragged themselves back to the contest, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 all out.

In reply, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Madara and Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a uninspiring opening overs and they were later diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin Akter and Joty restored their score, adding an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before Sharmin retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was advantage the chasing team heading into the remaining two overs, with just 12 runs necessary.

Yet, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and gave away just three scoring runs before Athapaththu's decisive intervention, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka snatched the win at the very end.

Ultimately, it was a match of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who moved aside a several of fellow players as she got ready to deliver the decisive over, kept hers. The opposition failed to.

There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting effort. They might well have been chasing 270 or 280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but instead the target was considerably smaller.

However, the batting side displayed insufficient purpose from ball one, accumulating runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately making themselves too much to accomplish.

But no matter what issues there are with their batting, if they had seized their opportunities in the fielding department, that 203-run goal would have been considerably less.

It needed them three tries to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with keeper Joty not managing to hold a challenging opportunity while keeping to send back Hasini Perera on 23 runs before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya.

Perera was missed again on 55 runs and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before eventually being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with teammates falling around her.

Later in the innings, there was also a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, while the run-out chance was a slightly regrettable, with Rubya Haider deputising with the keeping duties following an injury to the regular keeper.

Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are not at all a single occurrence. They've failed to catch 14 opportunities from a available 27 opportunities at this competition and boast the lowest catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the competing sides.

They are a side who are overall heading in the proper way – they are competing in only their second 50-over World Cup ultimately – but substandard fielding performance is a obvious issue which requires focus.