Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their campaign alive

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27

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

Sri Lanka win by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team took four crucial dismissals in the decisive innings segment to complete a nail-biting win over their opponents and maintain their faint chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Needing a below-par target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, the Bangladeshi team required nine more runs from the final six balls.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu secured three wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to achieve a exciting success for the Lankan team.

The victory – Sri Lanka's initial of the tournament after three defeats and two abandoned games against Australia and the Kiwi side – elevates them level on four points with India and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, however, experienced a fifth successive loss since winning their initial game against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.

Even though the Bangladeshi side got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa taking a wicket with the initial ball of the game to dismiss Gunaratne, they were appropriately punished for a subpar fielding display.

They gifted second chances to Perera, who was missed on three occasions, and Athapaththu.

While the Sri Lankan skipper failed to make it count, removed leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being dropped by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made Bangladesh pay.

She scored a first international fifty, making 85 from 99 deliveries and building an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket with De Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, dragged themselves back to the contest, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Sri Lanka collapse from 174-4 to 202 complete.

In reply, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Madara and Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a lacklustre initial phase and they were subsequently reduced to 44-3.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their batting effort, contributing an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh approaching the remaining two bowling phases, with merely 12 runs required.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu and allowed just three runs before Athapaththu's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as the Lankan team snatched the victory at the very end.

Ultimately, it was a match of composure. The very experienced Athapaththu, who moved aside a handful of teammates as she got ready to bowl the decisive over, kept her nerve. Bangladesh could not.

There will be numerous questions about Bangladesh's batting effort. They could easily have been needing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka appearing at ease on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the target was considerably smaller.

Yet, the batting side showed little aggression from ball one, scoring at less than 2.5 scoring rate during the initial phase, suffering a top-order collapse, and ultimately making themselves too much to do.

But whatever problems there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their catches in the field, that 203 total objective would have been substantially less.

It required them three tries to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with keeper Joty not managing to grab a difficult catch while keeping to remove Perera on 23 before Athapaththu was spared from a caught and bowled chance possibility against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was spilled once more on 55 runs and 63, the latter chance flying directly to Jhilik at cover position, before ultimately being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she sought to increase the tempo with partners getting out near her.

Later in the innings, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, although the latter was a somewhat regrettable, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves after an injury to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding issues are not at all a one-off. They've missed 14 catches from a available 27 chances at this tournament and display the poorest catching success rate (48.1 percent) of the competing sides.

They are a squad who are typically moving in the proper way – they are participating in only their second ODI World Cup ultimately – but substandard fielding standards is a glaring problem which needs attention.