The Lankan team overcomes the Bangladeshi side to keep their World Cup tournament hopes breathing
The Lankan team will confront the Pakistani side in their crucial last tournament encounter
ICC Women's World Cup, Navi 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); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42
Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin
Sri Lanka claimed four crucial dismissals in the decisive innings segment to seal a nail-biting win over Bangladesh and preserve their faint hopes of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.
Pursuing a attainable score of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh wanted nine more runs from the last six deliveries.
Yet, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu secured three wickets in four deliveries and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to secure a exciting win for Sri Lanka.
The triumph – Sri Lanka's first of the World Cup after three losses and two no-results against the Australian team and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.
The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, experienced a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against Pakistan and have been knocked out.
Although the Bangladeshi side got off to the perfect start, with Marufa taking a wicket with the initial ball of the encounter to dismiss Gunaratne, they were deservedly punished for a disappointing fielding display.
They offered lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was spilled three times, and the Lankan captain.
Although the Sri Lankan skipper could not make it count, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya, Perera forced Bangladesh regret it.
She registered a maiden international half-century, accumulating 85 from 99 bowls and building an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with De Silva.
The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna Akter's 3-27, pulled themselves back to the match, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th over triggering a Lankan downfall from 174-4 to 202 total.
During their chase, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a lacklustre powerplay and they were afterwards diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.
Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their batting effort, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket stand before the batter retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th over.
It was leaning toward the chasing team approaching the remaining two innings segments, with just 12 more runs needed.
Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and conceded merely three runs before Athapaththu's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as Sri Lanka seized the triumph at the final moment.
Bangladesh are unable to maintain composure - and catches
Finally, it was a match of nerve. The very experienced Athapaththu, who moved aside a few of teammates as she prepared to deliver the last over, maintained hers. Bangladesh could not.
There will be many questions about the team's batting effort. They possibly have been chasing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team appearing comfortable on 159-4 in the 30th over, but in contrast the target was significantly less.
Yet, Bangladesh showed little aggression from ball one, accumulating runs at below 2.5 runs per over during the powerplay, undergoing a early batting collapse, and eventually leaving themselves too much to do.
But whatever difficulties there are with their batting, if they had taken their chances in the field, that 203-run target objective would have been substantially smaller.
It needed them three efforts to break the 72-run stand second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Joty being unable to grab a tough catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Perera on her score of 23 before the captain was spared from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya.
The batter was spilled further on 55 runs and 63 runs, the latter chance going right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before finally being dismissed lbw by Shorna as she attempted to up the ante with batting partners falling near her.
Subsequently in the innings, there was also a missed stumping and a failed run-out, even though the second one was a little unlucky, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties following an injury to Joty.
Sadly for the team, such fielding woes are far from a isolated incident. They've dropped 14 catches from a possible 27 at this tournament and boast the worst fielding effectiveness (48.1%) of the eight teams.
They are a squad who are overall heading in the proper way – they are competing in merely their second one-day World Cup ultimately – but inadequate fielding performance is a glaring problem which demands focus.
