Sri Lanka defeats Bangladesh to keep their campaign ongoing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs

Sri Lanka took four crucial dismissals in the final over to complete a heart-stopping win over their opponents and preserve their faint aspirations of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Pursuing a attainable total of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, the Bangladeshi team needed nine runs from the final six deliveries.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu took three wickets in four bowls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a dramatic victory for Sri Lanka.

The triumph – the Lankan team's first of the tournament after three defeats and two abandoned games against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – elevates them equal on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, suffered a fifth straight loss since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

While the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa striking with the first delivery of the encounter to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a subpar fielding performance.

They offered second chances to Hasini Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and Athapaththu.

Even though Athapaththu failed to take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 just one delivery after being put down by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made the opposition suffer.

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

The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back to the game, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Lankan batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 complete.

In reply, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a lacklustre opening overs and they were subsequently brought down to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their batting effort, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket before the batter retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over.

It was advantage the chasing team heading into the last two overs, with only 12 runs required.

However, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and conceded only three runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka snatched the win at the death.

Ultimately, it was a contest of composure. The very experienced Athapaththu, who moved aside a few of team-mates as she prepared to deliver the final over, maintained hers. The opposition did not.

There will be plenty of inquiries about Bangladesh's batting display. They possibly have been needing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka appearing settled on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th over, but rather the required total was significantly less.

However, Bangladesh displayed insufficient purpose from ball one, accumulating runs at below 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and eventually forcing themselves too much to achieve.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting lineup, if they had taken their catches in the field, that 203-run goal would have been significantly lower.

It needed them three attempts to terminate the 72-run second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to take a tough catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Perera on her score of 23 before the captain survived from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled once more on 55 and 63 runs, the final opportunity traveling straight to Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being trapped lbw by Shorna as she sought to increase the tempo with partners being dismissed around her.

Later in the game, there was also a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the second one was a little regrettable, with Rubya Haider deputising with the gloves due to an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are not at all a one-off. They've dropped 14 catches from a available 27 at this World Cup and display the lowest catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a side who are overall progressing in the correct path – they are playing in merely their second ODI World Cup after all – but substandard fielding standards is a glaring issue which needs improvement.