Sri Lanka beats the Bangladeshi side to maintain their World Cup tournament hopes breathing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team secured four crucial dismissals in the decisive over to achieve a heart-stopping victory over their opponents and keep their slim hopes of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Chasing a attainable score of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team needed nine runs from the last six bowls.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to secure a thrilling win for the Lankan team.

The win – Sri Lanka's maiden of the competition after three unsuccessful matches and two washed-out matches against Australia and the Kiwi side – elevates them level on four tournament points with India and New Zealand, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, endured a fifth straight setback since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Although the Bangladeshi side made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the game to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a subpar fielding effort.

They offered second chances to Perera, who was spilled on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.

Although Athapaththu failed to capitalise, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being missed by Rabeya, Perera made the opposition regret it.

She achieved a first international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 balls and contributing to an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna Akter's 3-27, pulled themselves back to the contest, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th innings segment triggering a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174 for four to 202 complete.

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

Sharmin and Joty reconstructed their score, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket collaboration before Sharmin retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh approaching the final two overs, with merely 12 runs needed.

However, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu and conceded just three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all sent back as the Lankan team seized the triumph at the death.

Ultimately, it was a game of composure. The seasoned Lankan captain, who directed away a handful of teammates as she got ready to deliver the final over, maintained her composure. The opposition did not.

There will be many inquiries about the team's batting effort. They possibly have been pursuing 270 or 280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th over, but in contrast the required total was much lower.

However, Bangladesh lacked purpose from the start, making runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, undergoing a early batting collapse, and eventually forcing themselves excessive to do.

But whatever difficulties there are with their batting lineup, if they had accepted their catches in the field, that 203 total goal would have been considerably less.

It took them three tries to terminate the 72-run second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to grab a difficult chance as wicketkeeper to remove Perera on 23 before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a return catch chance against Rabeya.

The batter was dropped once more on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity flying straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before finally being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she attempted to increase the tempo with batting partners falling beside her.

Later in the game, there was also a missed stumping and a missed run-out, although the run-out chance was a somewhat unlucky, with Jhilik standing in with the keeping duties due to an injury to the regular keeper.

Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are far from a one-off. They've dropped 14 chances from a possible 27 opportunities at this World Cup and boast the poorest catch efficiency (48.1%) of the eight teams.

They are a side who are typically progressing in the proper way – they are playing in just their second ODI World Cup in the end – but poor fielding standards is a glaring concern which needs improvement.