The Lankan team defeats the Bangladeshi side to keep their campaign 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

The Lankan cricket team secured four wickets in the final over to achieve a thrilling triumph over Bangladesh and keep their faint hopes of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals intact.

Pursuing a below-par total of 203 on a favorable wicket in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine more runs from the last six bowls.

Yet, Lankan skipper Athapaththu took three wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to bring about a exciting success for the Lankan team.

The victory – Sri Lanka's first of the competition after three losses and two abandoned games against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – pushes them tied on four tournament points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, suffered a fifth consecutive loss since winning their tournament opener against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.

While the Bangladeshi side made the excellent commencement, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the encounter to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a subpar fielding display.

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

Even though Athapaththu could not make it count, dismissed lbw for 46 one ball after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Perera made Bangladesh suffer.

She achieved a debut international half-century, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and sharing an significant 74-run fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's 3-27, dragged themselves back into the match, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th innings segment initiating a Lankan batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 all out.

During their chase, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 for one in a uninspiring powerplay and they were afterwards diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their batting effort, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team entering the last two bowling phases, with just 12 additional runs necessary.

However, Dasanayaka removed Ritu and conceded just three runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka seized the victory at the death.

Finally, it was a game of composure. The seasoned Lankan captain, who directed away a several of fellow players as she set herself to bowl the last over, maintained her composure. Bangladesh could not.

There will be plenty of doubts about the team's batting effort. They possibly have been needing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka seeming settled on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but instead the target was much lower.

However, the batting side lacked intent from ball one, making runs at less than 2.5 runs each over during the initial phase, suffering a early batting collapse, and ultimately making themselves too much to do.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting, if they had taken their chances in the fielding department, that 203-run objective would have been significantly lower.

It required them three attempts to break the 72-run second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty not managing to grab a difficult catch behind the stumps to send back Hasini Perera on 23 runs before the captain was spared from a return catch possibility against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled once more on 55 runs and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling directly to Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being given out lbw by Shorna as she attempted to up the ante with teammates being dismissed near her.

Afterwards in the game, there was furthermore a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, while the run-out chance was a little regrettable, with Jhilik deputising with the gloves after an injury to Joty.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding woes are nowhere near a isolated incident. They've dropped 14 catches from a available 27 at this competition and boast the lowest catch efficiency (48.1%) of the competing sides.

They are a team who are typically heading in the correct path – they are participating in merely their second ODI World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding performance is a glaring concern which demands focus.