The Lankan team overcomes the Bangladeshi side to maintain their campaign breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka took four crucial dismissals in the last innings segment to complete a thrilling win over their opponents and keep their slim aspirations of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Pursuing a attainable score of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, the Bangladeshi team wanted nine more runs from the remaining six balls.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu took three wickets in four bowls and de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to secure a exciting victory for Sri Lanka.

The win – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three defeats and two no-results against the Australian team and New Zealand – elevates them level on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth consecutive defeat since winning their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

While the Bangladeshi side got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the initial ball of the game to dismiss Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a disappointing fielding performance.

They provided lifelines to Perera, who was missed multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Even though Athapaththu failed to take advantage, sent back leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.

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

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, fought themselves back in the game, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Lankan collapse from 174 for four to 202 total.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a lacklustre powerplay and they were subsequently reduced to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their batting effort, putting on 82 runs for the fourth wicket collaboration before Sharmin retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was in favor of Bangladesh heading into the remaining two overs, with merely 12 more runs necessary.

Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu and gave away just three scoring runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka snatched the victory at the final moment.

Finally, it was a match of composure. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who moved aside a several of teammates as she prepared to deliver the decisive over, kept hers. The opposition could not.

There will be many doubts about Bangladesh's batting performance. They might well have been needing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka looking settled on 159-4 in the 30th innings segment, but instead the required total was much lower.

However, Bangladesh showed little aggression from ball one, scoring at below 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, undergoing a initial wicket loss, and eventually making themselves excessive to accomplish.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting lineup, if they had accepted their opportunities in the fielding area, that 203-run target objective would have been considerably lower.

It required them three attempts to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with keeper Joty failing to take a tough catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Perera on her score of 23 before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled further on 55 and 63 runs, the latter chance going directly to Jhilik at cover, before eventually being trapped lbw by Shorna as she attempted to increase the tempo with partners being dismissed near her.

Later in the innings, there was furthermore a missed stumping and a failed run-out, although the latter was a slightly regrettable, with Rubya Haider deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves following an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are far from a single occurrence. They've missed 14 catches from a potential 27 chances at this World Cup and display the worst fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are typically progressing in the correct path – they are participating in just their second one-day World Cup ultimately – but inadequate fielding is a prominent issue which needs attention.