Sri Lanka overcomes the Bangladeshi side to maintain their tournament hopes breathing
The Lankan team will confront the Pakistani side in their crucial final group match
ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai
Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27
The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42
The Lankan side win by seven runs margin
The Lankan cricket team claimed four wickets in the last innings segment to seal a heart-stopping triumph over Bangladesh and preserve their slim aspirations 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 wanted nine additional runs from the last six deliveries.
Nevertheless, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four bowls and de Silva ran out Nahida to secure a thrilling success for the Lankan team.
The triumph – Sri Lanka's first of the competition after three losses and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – elevates them level on four tournament points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who meet each other on Thursday.
The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, suffered a fifth consecutive defeat since securing victory in their tournament opener against Pakistan and have been eliminated.
Even though Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the encounter to send back Gunaratne, they were rightfully made to pay for a subpar fielding effort.
They gifted reprieves to Perera, who was spilled three times, and the Lankan captain.
While the Sri Lankan skipper could not take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera forced Bangladesh pay.
She achieved a maiden international 50-run score, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and building an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.
The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back into the match, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment initiating a Lankan downfall from 174-4 to 202 all out.
During their chase, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Prabodhani contained Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a uninspiring initial phase and they were subsequently brought down to 44-3.
Sharmin and Joty rebuilt their innings, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket before the batter left the field injured for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over.
It was in favor of the chasing team heading into the final two bowling phases, with just 12 additional runs required.
Yet, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and gave away merely three scoring runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa all dismissed as Sri Lanka grabbed the win at the final moment.
The Bangladeshi team cannot keep calm - and catches
In the end, it was a contest of composure. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a few of team-mates as she set herself to bowl the last over, kept her nerve. The opposition did not.
There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting performance. They possibly have been chasing around 270-280 with the Lankan team looking comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the required total was considerably smaller.
However, Bangladesh showed little purpose from the start, accumulating runs at less than 2.5 runs per over during the opening overs, undergoing a early batting collapse, and eventually making themselves too much to accomplish.
But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their chances in the field, that 203-run objective would have been substantially less.
It took them three attempts to end the 72-run second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Nigar Sultana being unable to hold a challenging opportunity as wicketkeeper to send back Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled opportunity against Rabeya.
Perera was spilled again on 55 and 63, the latter chance traveling straight to Jhilik at cover, before ultimately being dismissed lbw by Shorna as she attempted to increase the tempo with teammates falling near her.
Subsequently in the innings, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the run-out chance was a little regrettable, with Jhilik standing in with the keeping duties due to an injury to the regular keeper.
Regrettably for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are nowhere near a single occurrence. They've missed 14 catches from a available 27 at this World Cup and have the worst catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the participating teams.
They are a squad who are generally progressing in the correct path – they are competing in only their second one-day World Cup ultimately – but inadequate fielding performance is a prominent concern which needs focus.
