Sri Lanka beats Bangladesh to keep their tournament hopes breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka took four wickets in the last over to complete a heart-stopping victory over their opponents and maintain their narrow chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals alive.

Needing a modest score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine more runs from the last six deliveries.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a thrilling win for Sri Lanka.

The triumph – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three defeats and two abandoned games against Australia and the Kiwi side – pushes them level on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, endured a fifth consecutive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against Pakistan and have been knocked out.

Although Bangladesh got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa taking a wicket with the first delivery of the match to remove Gunaratne, they were appropriately punished for a poor fielding performance.

They provided reprieves to Hasini Perera, who was spilled three times, and the Lankan captain.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper failed to make it count, dismissed lbw for 46 one ball after being put down by Rabeya, Perera forced the opposition regret it.

She scored a debut international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 bowls and contributing to an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with De Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back in the game, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th innings segment causing a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 all out.

In reply, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23 for one in a disappointing powerplay and they were subsequently brought down to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their batting effort, adding 82 for the fourth wicket stand before the batter withdrew due to injury for a resolute 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh entering the final two innings segments, with only 12 more runs required.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu and allowed just three runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka seized the win at the final moment.

In the end, it was a game of nerves. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a several of fellow players as she prepared to deliver the final over, held hers. The opposition could not.

There will be many inquiries about the team's batting performance. They might well have been chasing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka looking at ease on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but instead the chase was significantly less.

Yet, the batting side showed little aggression from the start, accumulating runs at below 2.5 scoring rate during the initial phase, undergoing a initial wicket loss, and eventually forcing themselves too much to accomplish.

But whatever issues there are with their batting, if they had seized their catches in the field, that 203-run target goal would have been considerably less.

It took them three attempts to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty failing to grab a challenging chance as wicketkeeper to remove Hasini Perera on her score of 23 before the captain was spared from a return catch possibility against Rabeya.

The batter was missed again on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before finally being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she tried to up the ante with partners falling around her.

Subsequently in the innings, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, while the run-out chance was a slightly unfortunate, with Rubya Haider substituting with the wicketkeeping gloves following an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Sadly for the team, such fielding issues are far from a single occurrence. They've dropped 14 catches from a possible 27 at this competition and boast the lowest catch efficiency (less than 50%) of the eight teams.

They are a team who are overall progressing in the proper way – they are participating in only their second 50-over World Cup ultimately – but poor fielding performance is a prominent issue which demands focus.