Sri Lanka beats the Bangladeshi side to maintain their World Cup campaign breathing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

Sri Lanka 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 margin

The Lankan cricket team claimed four crucial dismissals in the decisive innings segment to achieve a nail-biting victory over their opponents and maintain their faint chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Pursuing a attainable total of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team needed nine more runs from the final six balls.

Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three important dismissals in four balls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to secure a exciting victory for the Lankan team.

The victory – Sri Lanka's maiden of the tournament after three defeats and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – pushes them tied on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, however, endured a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Although Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the game to remove Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a poor fielding display.

They gifted lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was missed three times, and the Lankan captain.

Although the Sri Lankan skipper failed to make it count, sent back leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera forced the opposition suffer.

She scored a debut international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 balls and building an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna's 3-27, pulled themselves back into the match, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th over initiating a Sri Lanka downfall from 174-4 to 202 all out.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 for one in a lacklustre powerplay and they were afterwards diminished to 44-3.

Sharmin Akter and Joty restored their score, contributing 82 runs for the fourth wicket before the batter retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over.

It was advantage the chasing team entering the remaining two innings segments, with merely 12 runs needed.

However, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and allowed merely three runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka seized the win at the death.

Ultimately, it was a game of nerves. The seasoned Athapaththu, who moved aside a handful of teammates as she set herself to deliver the decisive over, held hers. Bangladesh could not.

There will be many doubts about the team's batting performance. They possibly have been needing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th over, but instead the target was considerably smaller.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh showed little intent from the start, making runs at under 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, experiencing a top-order collapse, and ultimately making themselves overwhelming to do.

But whatever difficulties there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their chances in the field, that 203 total target would have been significantly smaller.

It needed them three efforts to end the 72-run second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Joty being unable to hold a difficult chance as wicketkeeper to remove Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a return catch chance against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was dropped again on 55 and 63, the latter chance going right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before ultimately being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with batting partners falling around her.

Subsequently in the innings, there was also a failed stumping and a failed run-out, although the second one was a little unlucky, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties due to an physical problem to Joty.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding woes are not at all a one-off. They've failed to catch 14 catches from a possible 27 opportunities at this tournament and have the poorest catching success rate (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a squad who are typically moving in the correct path – they are playing in merely their second 50-over World Cup after all – but inadequate fielding performance is a obvious concern which demands improvement.