The Lankan team beats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their campaign alive

ICC Women's 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); Athapaththu 4-42

The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team secured four crucial dismissals in the final innings segment to complete a heart-stopping win over their opponents and preserve their slim aspirations of making it for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Chasing a attainable target of 203 on a favorable wicket in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh wanted nine runs from the final six balls.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu took three crucial wickets in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a thrilling win for the Lankan team.

The win – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three unsuccessful matches and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – elevates them level on four tournament points with India and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, experienced a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Although Bangladesh made the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the initial ball of the match to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were appropriately made to pay for a disappointing fielding performance.

They provided lifelines to Perera, who was spilled three times, and the Lankan captain.

Although Athapaththu was unable to make it count, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being put down by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.

She achieved a first international fifty, making 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an significant 74-run partnership fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, pulled themselves back into the game, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 total.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 for one in a uninspiring powerplay and they were later reduced to 44 for three.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their innings, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket stand before the batter withdrew due to injury for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was advantage Bangladesh heading into the remaining two bowling phases, with only 12 runs necessary.

However, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded only three scoring runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as the Lankan team seized the triumph at the death.

In the end, it was a game of nerve. The highly experienced Athapaththu, who moved aside a handful of teammates as she prepared to deliver the decisive over, maintained her nerve. The opposition failed to.

There will be numerous inquiries about the team's batting display. They could easily have been needing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka looking comfortable on 159-4 in the 30th bowling phase, but in contrast the target was much lower.

Yet, Bangladesh lacked aggression from the start, accumulating runs at under 2.5 runs per over during the initial phase, undergoing a top-order collapse, and finally leaving themselves overwhelming to accomplish.

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

It needed them three efforts to terminate the 72-run second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to take a challenging chance as wicketkeeper to remove Perera on 23 before Athapaththu was spared from a return catch possibility against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was dropped again on her score of 55 and her score of 63, the last attempt going directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before eventually being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she attempted to increase the tempo with batting partners falling near her.

Afterwards in the game, there was also a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, while the latter was a slightly unlucky, with Jhilik standing in with the wicketkeeping gloves due to an fitness issue to Joty.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding issues are not at all a one-off. They've failed to catch 14 chances from a potential 27 chances at this tournament and display the poorest fielding effectiveness (48.1 percent) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are overall heading in the correct path – they are playing in only their second ODI World Cup in the end – but poor fielding is a glaring problem which requires attention.