The Lankan team overcomes Bangladesh to preserve their tournament hopes ongoing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs

Sri Lanka took four crucial dismissals in the decisive innings segment to complete a heart-stopping triumph over Bangladesh and preserve their narrow chances of making it for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Pursuing a attainable target of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh required nine additional runs from the final six balls.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu secured three wickets in four balls and de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a dramatic success 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 the Kiwi side – elevates them tied on four points with India and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, experienced a fifth straight setback since winning their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.

While the Bangladeshi side made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the match to send back Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a subpar fielding display.

They provided lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and Athapaththu.

Even though the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 one ball after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.

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

The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna Akter's 3-27, fought themselves back into the contest, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th innings segment triggering a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained Bangladesh to 23-1 in a uninspiring powerplay and they were later brought down to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their score, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before Sharmin retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh entering the last two bowling phases, with only 12 runs necessary.

Yet, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu and allowed only three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as Sri Lanka snatched the win at the final moment.

Finally, it was a contest of composure. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a several of fellow players as she got ready to deliver the decisive over, maintained her composure. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be plenty of questions about the team's batting performance. They might well have been pursuing 270 or 280 with the Lankan team appearing settled on 159-4 in the 30th bowling phase, but in contrast the target was significantly less.

Yet, the batting side showed little intent from the start, making runs at below 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately forcing themselves excessive to accomplish.

But whatever problems there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their chances in the field, that 203-run target goal would have been significantly lower.

It required them three tries to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with keeper Joty not managing to take a tough opportunity behind the stumps to send back Hasini Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was dropped further on 55 and 63, the last attempt flying straight to Jhilik at cover, before eventually being dismissed lbw by Shorna as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with teammates getting out near her.

Subsequently in the game, there was additionally a failed stumping and a missed run-out, even though the second one was a slightly unlucky, with Rubya Haider substituting with the gloves following an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding problems are not at all a single occurrence. They've missed 14 catches from a possible 27 opportunities at this World Cup and boast the lowest catching success rate (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are overall moving in the right direction – they are participating in merely their second ODI World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding is a glaring concern which demands attention.