Sri Lanka overcomes the Bangladeshi side to keep their tournament hopes breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team claimed four wickets in the last innings segment to achieve a thrilling win over Bangladesh and preserve their narrow chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Pursuing a below-par score of 203 on a favorable wicket in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh wanted nine more runs from the last six bowls.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu secured three wickets in four bowls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to secure a dramatic win for Sri Lanka.

The triumph – the Lankan team's first of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against the Australian team and New Zealand – pushes them level on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, experienced a fifth consecutive loss since winning their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.

Although Bangladesh got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the encounter to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly punished for a disappointing fielding display.

They offered reprieves to Perera, who was dropped three times, and Athapaththu.

Even though the Sri Lankan skipper could not make it count, removed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made Bangladesh pay.

She registered a maiden international 50-run score, making 85 from 99 bowls and contributing to an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket with De Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna Akter's 3-27, fought themselves back in the match, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Sri Lanka downfall from 174 for four to 202 complete.

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

Sharmin and Joty restored their innings, adding an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of Bangladesh entering the remaining two bowling phases, with just 12 more runs required.

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

In the end, it was a game of composure. The seasoned Athapaththu, who ushered away a few of team-mates as she set herself to deliver the decisive over, maintained her composure. The opposition failed to.

There will be many inquiries about Bangladesh's batting performance. They could easily have been chasing around 270-280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159-4 in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the target was considerably smaller.

However, Bangladesh lacked purpose from the start, scoring at below 2.5 runs each over during the opening overs, suffering a top-order collapse, and ultimately forcing themselves overwhelming to do.

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

It took them three attempts to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket collaboration, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to grab a challenging chance while keeping to send back Hasini Perera on 23 runs before the captain survived from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya.

Perera was spilled once more on 55 and 63 runs, the final opportunity going right to Jhilik at cover field, before eventually being trapped lbw by Shorna as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with partners falling beside her.

Later in the batting effort, there was furthermore a failed stumping and a missed run-out, even though the latter was a slightly unlucky, with Rubya Haider deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves due to an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are not at all a isolated incident. They've failed to catch 14 catches from a available 27 chances at this World Cup and have the poorest catching success rate (48.1 percent) of the competing sides.

They are a side who are generally progressing in the proper way – they are playing in just their second one-day World Cup after all – but substandard fielding performance is a glaring concern which demands attention.