Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to maintain their tournament hopes 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); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team took four crucial dismissals in the decisive innings segment to complete a thrilling victory over their opponents and preserve their faint hopes of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Chasing a below-par score of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh wanted nine more runs from the final six deliveries.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu took three crucial wickets in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to achieve a dramatic win for Sri Lanka.

The victory – the Lankan team's initial of the competition after three unsuccessful matches and two abandoned games against Australia and the Kiwi side – pushes them equal on four tournament points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, suffered a fifth straight defeat since winning their first match against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Even though the Bangladeshi side got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa striking with the first delivery of the game to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a subpar fielding display.

They gifted second chances to Hasini Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Although Athapaththu could not make it count, 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, making 85 from 99 balls and contributing to an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, pulled themselves back to the game, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th bowling segment initiating a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 for four to 202 complete.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a uninspiring initial phase and they were afterwards brought down to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their innings, putting on 82 runs for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin left the field injured for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh heading into the last two bowling phases, with just 12 additional runs needed.

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded just three scoring runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as the Lankan team seized the triumph at the final moment.

Ultimately, it was a match of nerve. The seasoned Lankan captain, who ushered away a few of fellow players as she got ready to deliver the final over, maintained hers. The opposition did not.

There will be many inquiries about the team's batting display. They might well have been chasing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team appearing settled on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the chase was much lower.

Yet, the batting side showed little purpose from ball one, making runs at below 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, suffering a initial wicket loss, and finally making themselves excessive to achieve.

But whatever issues there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their chances in the fielding area, that 203-run goal would have been substantially smaller.

It required them three tries to break the 72-run second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana not managing to take a tough chance as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on her score of 23 before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya.

The batter was missed again on her score of 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity going right to Jhilik at cover field, before finally being given out leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she sought to increase the tempo with teammates being dismissed around her.

Later in the batting effort, there was also a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, while the second one was a little regrettable, with Jhilik deputising with the gloves due to an injury to Joty.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are nowhere near a single occurrence. They've missed 14 chances from a potential 27 at this World Cup and boast the lowest fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the competing sides.

They are a squad who are generally heading in the right direction – they are competing in just their second ODI World Cup in the end – but poor fielding is a glaring problem which demands focus.