The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to keep their tournament hopes alive

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): 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

The Lankan cricket team secured four crucial dismissals in the final innings segment to achieve a thrilling win over Bangladesh and preserve their faint chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals alive.

Chasing a attainable score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine runs from the last six bowls.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to bring about a exciting victory for the Lankan team.

The win – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three defeats and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four points with India and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth straight defeat since securing victory in their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

Even though the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the initial ball of the game to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were appropriately made to pay for a disappointing fielding effort.

They offered second chances to Hasini Perera, who was missed on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.

While Athapaththu could not make it count, sent back lbw for 46 one ball after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She scored a maiden international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 balls and building an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back to the match, with De Silva's removal in the 34th innings segment causing a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 all out.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Malki Madara and Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a uninspiring initial phase and they were afterwards diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin and Joty restored their score, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket stand before the batter retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over.

It was in favor of Bangladesh heading into the last two innings segments, with only 12 runs required.

Yet, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and conceded only three runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka snatched the triumph at the final moment.

In the end, it was a contest of composure. The highly experienced Athapaththu, who ushered away a handful of teammates as she set herself to bowl the final over, kept her composure. Bangladesh could not.

There will be plenty of inquiries about the team's batting effort. They could easily have been chasing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team looking comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but rather the required total was significantly less.

Nevertheless, the batting side displayed insufficient intent from the start, scoring at under 2.5 runs each over during the opening overs, undergoing a top-order collapse, and eventually leaving themselves too much to achieve.

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

It required them three attempts to terminate the 72-run second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Nigar Sultana failing to grab a tough chance as wicketkeeper to remove Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain survived from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled further on 55 and 63 runs, the last attempt going right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before finally being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna as she tried to up the ante with partners being dismissed beside her.

Afterwards in the innings, there was also a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, while the second one was a little unlucky, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties due to an physical problem to Joty.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are not at all a isolated incident. They've failed to catch 14 opportunities from a potential 27 at this tournament and display the lowest fielding effectiveness (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are overall moving in the proper way – they are competing in just their second ODI World Cup after all – but substandard fielding performance is a obvious problem which needs attention.