Sri Lanka beats Bangladesh to preserve their World Cup tournament hopes alive

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs

Sri Lanka took four wickets in the decisive over to seal a thrilling victory over Bangladesh and preserve their slim hopes of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Pursuing a below-par total of 203 on a favorable wicket in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the remaining six bowls.

Yet, Lankan skipper Athapaththu took three important dismissals in four balls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a exciting victory for Sri Lanka.

The victory – Sri Lanka's maiden of the competition after three unsuccessful matches and two washed-out matches against Australia and New Zealand – pushes them tied on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, suffered a fifth successive setback since securing victory in their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Although the Bangladeshi side got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa striking with the initial ball of the match to dismiss Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a subpar fielding performance.

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

While Athapaththu could not capitalise, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 one ball after being put down by Rabeya, Perera made Bangladesh suffer.

She registered a debut international half-century, scoring 85 from 99 bowls and contributing to an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back in the contest, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th innings segment initiating a Sri Lanka collapse from 174-4 to 202 total.

While batting second, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23-1 in a disappointing initial phase and they were later reduced to 44-3.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their score, contributing 82 runs for the fourth wicket before Sharmin left the field injured for a resolute 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team heading into the remaining two innings segments, with only 12 additional runs necessary.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and conceded just three runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka snatched the triumph at the final moment.

In the end, it was a contest of nerve. The seasoned Lankan captain, who ushered away a few of fellow players as she got ready to deliver the final over, kept her nerve. The opposition failed to.

There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting effort. They might well have been needing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka appearing settled on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the chase was much lower.

Yet, the batting side lacked purpose from the start, scoring at below 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, suffering a initial wicket loss, and finally forcing themselves too much to achieve.

But no matter what issues there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their chances in the fielding area, that 203-run target goal would have been significantly lower.

It took them three attempts to break the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with keeper Nigar Sultana not managing to hold a challenging chance as wicketkeeper to remove Perera on her score of 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was spilled further on her score of 55 and her score of 63, the last attempt traveling right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before eventually being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she tried to accelerate the scoring with batting partners being dismissed around her.

Subsequently in the game, there was furthermore a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, even though the run-out chance was a slightly unlucky, with Rubya Haider standing in with the keeping duties after an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are nowhere near a one-off. They've failed to catch 14 opportunities from a potential 27 opportunities at this World Cup and display the poorest catch efficiency (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a team who are overall moving in the proper way – they are competing in only their second ODI World Cup in the end – but poor fielding performance is a prominent concern which requires focus.