The Lankan team defeats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their World Cup campaign breathing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the decisive over to seal a thrilling win over their opponents and preserve their faint chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals ongoing.

Needing a modest total of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, the Bangladeshi team needed nine additional runs from the remaining six bowls.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu took three crucial wickets in four deliveries and de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to achieve a exciting win for Sri Lanka.

The triumph – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them tied on four points with India and New Zealand, who face each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, however, endured a fifth consecutive setback since winning their first match against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

While Bangladesh made the ideal beginning, with Marufa taking a wicket with the initial ball of the match to send back Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a disappointing fielding effort.

They provided second chances to Hasini Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Although Athapaththu could not make it count, sent back lbw for 46 just one delivery after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.

She registered a first international half-century, scoring 85 from 99 bowls and sharing an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, spearheaded by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back into the match, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th innings segment triggering a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 for four to 202 total.

In reply, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23-1 in a lacklustre initial phase and they were subsequently diminished to 44 for three.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their batting effort, adding 82 for the fourth wicket before Sharmin left the field injured for a resolute 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was advantage Bangladesh heading into the final two overs, with merely 12 runs required.

Yet, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded merely three scoring runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as the Lankan team seized the triumph at the very end.

Finally, it was a contest of nerves. The very experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a several of fellow players as she prepared to deliver the final over, maintained her nerve. The opposition could not.

There will be many inquiries about Bangladesh's batting performance. They could easily have been needing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159-4 in the 30th innings segment, but instead the required total was much lower.

However, the batting side displayed insufficient intent from the very beginning, accumulating runs at under 2.5 runs per over during the initial phase, suffering a initial wicket loss, and finally forcing themselves excessive to do.

But no matter what difficulties there are with their batting, if they had seized their opportunities in the field, that 203 total objective would have been considerably less.

It took them three tries to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to take a tough opportunity behind the stumps to send back Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya.

Perera was missed once more on 55 runs and 63 runs, the latter chance flying straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before eventually being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she sought to accelerate the scoring with partners getting out around her.

Later in the game, there was additionally a failed stumping and a failed run-out, while the second one was a little unlucky, with Jhilik standing in with the keeping duties due to an injury to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are far from a isolated incident. They've missed 14 opportunities from a available 27 at this competition and display the worst fielding effectiveness (48.1%) of the eight teams.

They are a side who are generally moving in the right direction – they are competing in merely their second one-day World Cup in the end – but substandard fielding standards is a prominent problem which needs improvement.