The Lankan team defeats Bangladesh to maintain their World Cup campaign ongoing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka secured four crucial dismissals in the decisive over to complete a nail-biting triumph over their opponents and keep their narrow hopes of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Chasing a below-par total of 203 on a favorable wicket in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team needed nine more runs from the remaining six bowls.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu secured three important dismissals in four deliveries and de Silva ran out Nahida to achieve a thrilling success for Sri Lanka.

The victory – Sri Lanka's initial of the competition after three unsuccessful matches and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – elevates them tied on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, experienced a fifth straight loss since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been knocked out.

Although Bangladesh got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the initial ball of the match to remove Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a poor fielding display.

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

Although the Sri Lankan skipper failed to make it count, sent back leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being put down by Rabeya, Perera made Bangladesh regret it.

She scored a debut international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 bowls and sharing an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back in the match, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th over causing a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 all out.

In reply, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23 for one in a lacklustre opening overs and they were later brought down to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their innings, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket stand before the batter retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh approaching the last two overs, with only 12 more runs necessary.

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and conceded merely three runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka snatched the triumph at the death.

Ultimately, it was a game of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a few of team-mates as she set herself to deliver the final over, maintained hers. The opposition did not.

There will be plenty of inquiries about the team's batting effort. They might well have been pursuing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka seeming comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but rather the target was much lower.

However, Bangladesh displayed insufficient aggression from the start, making runs at less than 2.5 runs per over during the powerplay, undergoing a top-order collapse, and finally forcing themselves excessive to do.

But no matter what issues there are with their batting, if they had seized their opportunities in the field, that 203 total target would have been substantially less.

It required them three efforts to terminate the 72-run partnership second-wicket collaboration, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to grab a challenging catch behind the stumps to remove Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya.

Perera was missed further on 55 runs and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna as she attempted to increase the tempo with teammates falling near her.

Later in the game, there was also a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the latter was a somewhat unfortunate, with Rubya Haider deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves due to an injury to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are far from a one-off. They've missed 14 catches from a available 27 at this tournament and have the lowest catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are typically heading in the proper way – they are competing in merely their second ODI World Cup ultimately – but poor fielding standards is a obvious issue which demands improvement.