The Lankan team defeats Bangladesh 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 Akter 3-27

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka claimed four wickets in the final innings segment to achieve a nail-biting victory over Bangladesh and maintain their faint hopes of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Needing a modest total of 203 on a favorable wicket in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team wanted nine more runs from the last six deliveries.

However, Lankan skipper Athapaththu secured three important dismissals in four balls and de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to achieve a exciting victory for the Lankan team.

The victory – the Lankan team's first of the competition after three defeats and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – pushes them level on four points with India and New Zealand, who face each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, experienced a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.

Although the Bangladeshi side got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the encounter to send back Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a poor fielding display.

They offered second chances to Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to capitalise, dismissed lbw for 46 one ball after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She achieved a first international fifty, making 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's 3-27, pulled themselves back into the game, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th over triggering a Sri Lanka downfall from 174 with four wickets down to 202 complete.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a lacklustre powerplay and they were afterwards reduced to 44 for three.

Sharmin and Joty reconstructed their innings, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin withdrew due to injury for a determined 64 in the 36th over.

It was advantage Bangladesh heading into the last two bowling phases, with just 12 runs required.

However, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded merely three scoring runs before the captain's dramatic spell, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa all dismissed as Sri Lanka seized the victory at the death.

In the end, it was a contest of nerves. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a few of team-mates as she set herself to deliver the last over, held her composure. Bangladesh did not.

There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting display. They could easily have been pursuing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka seeming comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th over, but rather the required total was much lower.

However, the batting side displayed insufficient intent from ball one, making runs at under 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately forcing themselves too much to accomplish.

But whatever difficulties there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their catches in the field, that 203-run objective would have been considerably lower.

It took them three efforts to break the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to hold a challenging chance as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled further on her score of 55 and 63, the last attempt flying directly to Jhilik at cover, before eventually being trapped lbw by Shorna Akter as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with partners getting out beside her.

Subsequently in the batting effort, there was furthermore a missed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the latter was a somewhat unlucky, with Jhilik deputising with the keeping duties after an injury to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding problems are not at all a single occurrence. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a potential 27 chances at this competition and boast the lowest catching success rate (less than 50%) of the competing sides.

They are a side who are overall moving in the right direction – they are playing in merely their second 50-over World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding is a prominent concern which requires improvement.