The Lankan team beats the Bangladeshi side to keep their campaign alive

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27

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

Sri Lanka win by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team claimed four wickets in the last over to seal a thrilling victory over their opponents and maintain their faint aspirations of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Pursuing a modest score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team required nine additional runs from the final six balls.

Yet, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three important dismissals in four bowls and de Silva ran out Nahida to secure a dramatic success for the Lankan team.

The victory – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three losses and two abandoned games against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – pushes them level on four tournament points with India and New Zealand, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, experienced a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their initial game against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.

Although the Bangladeshi side got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the game to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a poor fielding performance.

They gifted reprieves to Perera, who was dropped on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.

Even though the Sri Lankan skipper could not make it count, removed lbw for 46 one ball after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Perera made the opposition regret it.

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

Bangladesh, led by Shorna's 3-27, pulled themselves back into the match, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment causing a Lankan collapse from 174 for four to 202 total.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 for one in a uninspiring initial phase and they were later brought down to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their batting effort, contributing an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter left the field injured for a stubborn 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh entering the remaining two bowling phases, with just 12 additional runs necessary.

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded only three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka snatched the victory at the very end.

Finally, it was a game of nerves. The very experienced Athapaththu, who ushered away a few of teammates as she got ready to deliver the last over, maintained her nerve. The opposition failed to.

There will be numerous inquiries about the team's batting performance. They might well have been chasing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka looking comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but instead the target was significantly less.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh displayed insufficient intent from the start, making runs at below 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, suffering a early batting collapse, and eventually forcing themselves too much to accomplish.

But whatever problems there are with their batting lineup, if they had accepted their chances in the fielding department, that 203-run target target would have been considerably smaller.

It took them three tries to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to hold a difficult chance behind the stumps to send back Perera on 23 before Athapaththu was spared from a return catch possibility against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled further on her score of 55 and 63, the last attempt traveling straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before eventually being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she sought to accelerate the scoring with batting partners getting out beside her.

Later in the innings, there was furthermore a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the run-out chance was a slightly unfortunate, with Rubya Haider standing in with the keeping duties following an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are far from a single occurrence. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a available 27 opportunities at this World Cup and have the lowest catching success rate (less than 50%) of the competing sides.

They are a squad who are generally progressing in the right direction – they are playing in only their second 50-over World Cup in the end – but poor fielding performance is a obvious concern which demands attention.