The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to preserve their campaign breathing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka claimed four crucial dismissals in the decisive over to achieve a thrilling triumph over Bangladesh and maintain their narrow hopes of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Pursuing a attainable total of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh wanted nine more runs from the last six deliveries.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to achieve a exciting success for Sri Lanka.

The win – Sri Lanka's first of the competition after three defeats and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them equal on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, experienced a fifth consecutive setback since winning their first match against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

While Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the encounter to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a subpar fielding display.

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

Although Athapaththu could not capitalise, removed lbw for 46 just one delivery after being missed by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made Bangladesh pay.

She achieved a first international 50-run score, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back into the game, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Lankan downfall from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a lacklustre opening overs and they were later reduced to 44-3.

Sharmin and Joty restored their innings, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of the chasing team approaching the last two innings segments, with merely 12 runs necessary.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded only three scoring runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa all dismissed as Sri Lanka snatched the triumph at the final moment.

Finally, it was a contest of composure. The seasoned Lankan captain, who moved aside a handful of team-mates as she set herself to bowl the final over, kept her nerve. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be many doubts about the team's batting effort. They might well have been chasing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka looking at ease on 159-4 in the 30th innings segment, but instead the required total was significantly less.

However, Bangladesh lacked intent from ball one, making runs at below 2.5 runs per over during the opening overs, undergoing a top-order collapse, and ultimately forcing themselves excessive to accomplish.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their chances in the fielding area, that 203-run target target would have been substantially less.

It required them three efforts to terminate the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty not managing to hold a difficult catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on her score of 23 before Athapaththu survived from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was spilled once more on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling straight to Jhilik at cover, before finally being trapped lbw by Shorna as she tried to accelerate the scoring with batting partners being dismissed beside her.

Afterwards in the batting effort, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a failed run-out, while the latter was a little unlucky, with Rubya Haider standing in with the wicketkeeping gloves following an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for Bangladesh, such fielding problems are nowhere near a single occurrence. They've missed 14 chances from a potential 27 chances at this World Cup and boast the worst fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are overall progressing in the right direction – they are participating in merely their second one-day World Cup after all – but substandard fielding standards is a glaring problem which demands attention.