The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to maintain their campaign ongoing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the last innings segment to complete a nail-biting triumph over Bangladesh and maintain their faint hopes of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Needing a attainable total of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh wanted nine more runs from the final six bowls.

However, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu took three important dismissals in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to achieve a exciting victory for the Lankan team.

The triumph – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three defeats and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – pushes them tied on four points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, however, endured a fifth consecutive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against Pakistan and have been eliminated.

While the Bangladeshi side made the perfect start, with Marufa taking a wicket with the first delivery of the encounter to dismiss Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a subpar fielding effort.

They gifted lifelines to Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to take advantage, sent back leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made Bangladesh regret it.

She registered a maiden international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and sharing an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back in the contest, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th over initiating a Sri Lanka downfall from 174 for four to 202 all out.

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

Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their innings, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket before the batter left the field injured for a resolute 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team approaching the final two overs, with just 12 additional runs required.

However, Dasanayaka removed Ritu and allowed just three scoring runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka grabbed the victory at the very end.

Finally, it was a contest of nerve. The highly experienced Athapaththu, who ushered away a several of teammates as she got ready to bowl the final over, held hers. Bangladesh could not.

There will be plenty of doubts about Bangladesh's batting display. They might well have been chasing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka looking settled on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but in contrast the required total was significantly less.

Yet, the batting side displayed insufficient aggression from the start, scoring at below 2.5 runs per over during the initial phase, experiencing a top-order collapse, and eventually making themselves excessive to accomplish.

But no matter what issues there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their opportunities in the field, that 203-run target goal would have been considerably less.

It took them three efforts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana not managing to take a difficult catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on her score of 23 before Athapaththu survived from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was missed again on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the final opportunity flying straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before finally being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she tried to up the ante with teammates falling around her.

Afterwards in the innings, there was furthermore a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, although the second one was a little unlucky, with Jhilik deputising with the gloves following an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are not at all a isolated incident. They've dropped 14 chances from a potential 27 opportunities at this World Cup and have the poorest fielding effectiveness (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are typically heading in the proper way – they are participating in merely their second one-day World Cup after all – but substandard fielding performance is a prominent problem which demands attention.