Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to maintain their World Cup campaign ongoing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka win by seven runs

Sri Lanka claimed four crucial dismissals in the last over to complete a heart-stopping victory over Bangladesh and keep their slim chances of making it for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Pursuing a below-par score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the last six bowls.

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

The victory – the Lankan team's maiden of the World Cup after three losses and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – moves them level on four tournament points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, however, suffered a fifth straight defeat since securing victory in their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.

Even though Bangladesh got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the encounter to send back Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a poor fielding effort.

They offered reprieves to Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and Athapaththu.

While Athapaththu could not take advantage, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced Bangladesh regret it.

She registered a debut international fifty, making 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back into the game, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Lankan downfall from 174 for four to 202 complete.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23-1 in a uninspiring powerplay and they were later reduced to 44-3.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their innings, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

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

However, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and allowed merely three scoring runs before Athapaththu's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka grabbed the win at the very end.

In the end, it was a match of nerve. The seasoned Lankan captain, who directed away a several of team-mates as she prepared to deliver the last over, maintained hers. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be numerous questions about the team's batting effort. They could easily have been needing around 270-280 with the Lankan team appearing settled on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the required total was significantly less.

However, Bangladesh lacked intent from the very beginning, accumulating runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, undergoing a initial wicket loss, and eventually forcing themselves too much to accomplish.

But no matter what difficulties there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their chances in the field, that 203-run goal would have been significantly less.

It took them three tries to terminate the 72-run second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana not managing to grab a tough opportunity as wicketkeeper to send back Perera on her score of 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was missed again on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the final opportunity going straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she sought to increase the tempo with batting partners being dismissed beside her.

Afterwards in the innings, there was furthermore a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, while the latter was a somewhat unfortunate, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves after an injury to Joty.

Sadly for the team, such fielding woes are not at all a single occurrence. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a available 27 at this tournament and display the lowest fielding effectiveness (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a team who are generally progressing in the proper way – they are competing in merely their second one-day World Cup after all – but poor fielding is a obvious problem which needs focus.