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

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

Bangladesh 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team took four wickets in the last over to seal a thrilling win over their opponents and preserve their faint chances of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Pursuing a modest target of 203 on a favorable wicket in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine runs from the remaining six bowls.

However, Lankan skipper Athapaththu secured three important dismissals in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a thrilling win for the Lankan team.

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

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth straight loss since winning their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

While the Bangladeshi side got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the encounter to send back Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a poor fielding performance.

They provided lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was spilled three times, and the Lankan captain.

Although Athapaththu was unable to take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya, Perera forced Bangladesh regret it.

She registered a debut international 50-run score, making 85 from 99 bowls and sharing an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back to the game, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Lankan collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 complete.

While batting second, the Lankan team's initial pace attack Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23 for one in a lacklustre opening overs and they were subsequently brought down to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their innings, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin withdrew due to injury for a resolute 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was in favor of Bangladesh entering the remaining two bowling phases, with just 12 runs required.

Nevertheless, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and conceded just three runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as the Lankan team snatched the triumph at the final moment.

Finally, it was a match of nerves. The very experienced Athapaththu, who ushered away a several of teammates as she got ready to bowl the last over, held her nerve. The opposition could not.

There will be plenty of questions about Bangladesh's batting effort. They might well have been pursuing around 270-280 with the Lankan team appearing at ease on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the chase was considerably smaller.

However, the batting side showed little aggression from the start, scoring at less than 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, undergoing a early batting collapse, and finally forcing themselves too much to accomplish.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their chances in the fielding area, that 203-run goal would have been significantly lower.

It took them three attempts to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty not managing to grab a difficult opportunity while keeping to dismiss Perera on 23 before the captain was spared from a return catch possibility against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled once more on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity flying directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before ultimately being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she tried to increase the tempo with partners getting out beside her.

Subsequently in the innings, there was furthermore a failed stumping and a failed run-out, while the latter was a somewhat unfortunate, with Jhilik substituting with the wicketkeeping gloves following an fitness issue to Joty.

Sadly for the team, such fielding problems are far from a isolated incident. They've missed 14 catches from a possible 27 opportunities at this competition and display the lowest catch efficiency (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a squad who are typically moving in the correct path – they are participating in only their second ODI World Cup ultimately – but inadequate fielding standards is a glaring concern which demands improvement.