Sri Lanka defeats Bangladesh to maintain their World Cup tournament hopes alive

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs

Sri Lanka took four wickets in the final over to seal a nail-biting victory over Bangladesh and keep their faint chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Needing a modest target of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh wanted nine more runs from the last six balls.

However, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four deliveries and de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to secure a dramatic victory for the Lankan team.

The win – the Lankan team's first of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two washed-out matches against Australia and New Zealand – moves them equal on four tournament points with India and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, experienced a fifth consecutive defeat since winning their first match against Pakistan and have been eliminated.

While the Bangladeshi side made the perfect start, with Marufa taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the match to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a poor fielding display.

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

Although Athapaththu failed to make it count, sent back lbw for 46 a single bowl after being dropped by Rabeya, Perera forced the opposition pay.

She registered a first international 50-run score, making 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, fought themselves back into the match, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th innings segment initiating a Sri Lanka downfall from 174-4 to 202 complete.

In reply, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained Bangladesh to 23 for one in a lacklustre initial phase and they were afterwards brought down to 44-3.

Sharmin and Joty reconstructed their batting effort, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket before the batter left the field injured for a resolute 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of the chasing team approaching the last two innings segments, with only 12 runs needed.

Yet, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and gave away just three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as the Lankan team grabbed the triumph at the final moment.

Finally, it was a match of nerve. The seasoned Lankan captain, who ushered away a several of teammates as she set herself to bowl the final over, held her composure. The opposition could not.

There will be many questions about the team's batting performance. They possibly have been chasing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka seeming at ease on 159-4 in the 30th innings segment, but instead the target was much lower.

However, Bangladesh showed little intent from the start, making runs at below 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, undergoing a top-order collapse, and ultimately making themselves excessive to accomplish.

But whatever problems there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their catches in the fielding area, that 203 total target would have been significantly less.

It needed them three attempts to end the 72-run stand second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana failing to take a challenging chance while keeping to dismiss Perera on her score of 23 before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a return catch chance against Rabeya.

The batter was dropped further on her score of 55 and her score of 63, the last attempt flying right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna as she tried to increase the tempo with teammates being dismissed near her.

Later in the batting effort, there was additionally a missed stumping and a missed run-out, while the run-out chance was a slightly unfortunate, with Rubya Haider deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves after an injury to Joty.

Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are far from a one-off. They've missed 14 catches from a available 27 opportunities at this World Cup and boast the lowest fielding effectiveness (48.1%) of the competing sides.

They are a side who are overall progressing in the right direction – they are playing in merely their second 50-over World Cup ultimately – but poor fielding standards is a glaring concern which requires improvement.