The Lankan team defeats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their tournament hopes ongoing
The Lankan team will confront the Pakistani side in their must-win final group game
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): Joty 77 (98); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42
Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin
Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the decisive innings segment to complete a thrilling triumph over Bangladesh and preserve their faint hopes of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.
Needing a modest score of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine more runs from the remaining six balls.
Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to bring about a dramatic success for Sri Lanka.
The triumph – the Lankan team's maiden of the competition after three defeats and two washed-out matches against Australia and New Zealand – moves them equal on four tournament points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, experienced a fifth consecutive defeat since winning their first match against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.
Even though Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the game to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a poor fielding display.
They provided second chances to Hasini Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and the Lankan captain.
Even though the Sri Lankan skipper could not make it count, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Perera made Bangladesh pay.
She registered a debut international 50-run score, scoring 85 from 99 bowls and contributing to an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.
Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back in the game, with De Silva's removal in the 34th innings segment initiating a Lankan downfall from 174-4 to 202 total.
During their chase, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a disappointing initial phase and they were afterwards reduced to 44 with three wickets lost.
Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty rebuilt their score, contributing an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before Sharmin retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.
It was in favor of the chasing team entering the last two bowling phases, with only 12 additional runs needed.
Yet, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and conceded just three scoring runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as the Lankan team grabbed the victory at the death.
The Bangladeshi team are unable to hold nerve - and catches
In the end, it was a game of composure. The very experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a handful of teammates as she got ready to bowl the last over, held her composure. The opposition failed to.
There will be plenty of questions about Bangladesh's batting effort. They could easily have been needing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka seeming settled on 159 for four in the 30th over, but rather the required total was considerably smaller.
Nevertheless, the batting side displayed insufficient purpose from the start, making runs at less than 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, experiencing a early batting collapse, and ultimately making themselves excessive to do.
But no matter what difficulties there are with their batting, if they had taken their opportunities in the fielding area, that 203-run target goal would have been considerably lower.
It took them three tries to end the 72-run second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty failing to hold a difficult chance as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance possibility against Rabeya Khan.
Perera was missed further on her score of 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity going directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before ultimately being given out leg before wicket by Shorna as she tried to increase the tempo with partners falling beside her.
Afterwards in the innings, there was also a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the latter was a little unfortunate, with Jhilik substituting with the gloves after an injury to Joty.
Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are not at all a isolated incident. They've missed 14 chances from a possible 27 at this World Cup and have the lowest fielding effectiveness (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.
They are a side who are typically moving in the correct path – they are competing in merely their second ODI World Cup after all – but poor fielding standards is a prominent concern which requires focus.
