The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to maintain their campaign ongoing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team claimed four crucial dismissals in the last over to complete a nail-biting win over their opponents and keep their faint chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Chasing a modest target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team wanted nine additional runs from the final six bowls.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu took three important dismissals in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to secure a dramatic win for Sri Lanka.

The victory – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three losses and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, however, suffered a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.

Even though the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the match to dismiss Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a disappointing fielding display.

They gifted second chances to Hasini Perera, who was missed three times, and Athapaththu.

Although Athapaththu failed to capitalise, removed lbw for 46 one ball after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made Bangladesh pay.

She achieved a maiden international fifty, accumulating 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket association with De Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's 3-27, fought themselves back to the contest, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Lankan downfall from 174 for four to 202 all out.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Madara and Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23-1 in a lacklustre initial phase and they were later diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty rebuilt their score, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin left the field injured for a resolute 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was in favor of the chasing team heading into the final two innings segments, with merely 12 additional runs necessary.

However, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu and gave away merely three runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa all sent back as Sri Lanka grabbed the triumph at the very end.

Ultimately, it was a contest of nerves. The seasoned Lankan captain, who directed away a several of teammates as she set herself to deliver the last over, held her nerve. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be plenty of inquiries about the team's batting performance. They possibly have been chasing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team looking settled on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the required total was considerably smaller.

However, the batting side lacked intent from the very beginning, making runs at under 2.5 runs per over during the opening overs, experiencing a top-order collapse, and finally leaving themselves overwhelming to do.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting lineup, if they had seized their catches in the field, that 203-run objective would have been significantly lower.

It required them three attempts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Joty being unable to take a challenging chance behind the stumps to dismiss Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was dropped again on 55 and 63, the last attempt going straight to Jhilik at cover field, before finally being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she sought to accelerate the scoring with batting partners being dismissed near her.

Afterwards in the game, there was also a stumping chance missed and a failed run-out, while the run-out chance was a somewhat regrettable, with Rubya Haider substituting with the keeping duties following an injury to Joty.

Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are far from a isolated incident. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a available 27 opportunities at this tournament and boast the worst catch efficiency (48.1%) of the competing sides.

They are a squad who are overall progressing in the right direction – they are competing in only their second one-day World Cup after all – but inadequate fielding performance is a prominent issue which demands focus.