The Lankan team overcomes the Bangladeshi side to keep their tournament hopes alive

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

Bangladesh 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 last over to achieve a thrilling triumph over their opponents and preserve their faint aspirations of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Pursuing a attainable target of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh needed nine more runs from the final six deliveries.

However, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four balls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to achieve a thrilling victory for the Lankan team.

The victory – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three losses and two washed-out matches against Australia and the Kiwi side – moves them equal on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who meet each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, experienced a fifth consecutive defeat since winning their first match against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.

Even though the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa taking a wicket with the initial ball of the game to send back Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a poor fielding performance.

They provided second chances to Perera, who was dropped on three occasions, and Athapaththu.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to make it count, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced Bangladesh regret it.

She achieved a debut international fifty, making 85 from 99 balls and sharing an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.

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

In reply, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a uninspiring initial phase and they were later diminished to 44-3.

Sharmin Akter and Joty reconstructed their innings, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was advantage Bangladesh heading into the remaining two bowling phases, with just 12 additional runs needed.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and allowed only three runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka grabbed the victory at the final moment.

Finally, it was a contest of composure. The very experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a handful of team-mates as she set herself to bowl the last over, held her nerve. The opposition did not.

There will be many questions about the team's batting display. They might well have been needing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka seeming comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the chase was significantly less.

Yet, the batting side displayed insufficient aggression from the very beginning, scoring at under 2.5 runs per over during the initial phase, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and finally leaving themselves too much to achieve.

But whatever difficulties there are with their batting, if they had taken their opportunities in the fielding area, that 203-run objective would have been significantly lower.

It took them three tries to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to grab a challenging catch behind the stumps to remove Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance possibility against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was spilled once more on 55 and 63 runs, the last attempt traveling right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before ultimately being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna as she sought to accelerate the scoring with partners getting out near her.

Subsequently in the batting effort, there was furthermore a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the run-out chance was a slightly regrettable, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves due to an physical problem to Joty.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding woes are nowhere near a single occurrence. They've missed 14 chances from a available 27 at this competition and display the worst fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are overall heading in the correct path – they are participating in just their second 50-over World Cup in the end – but poor fielding is a obvious issue which demands focus.