Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to keep their World Cup campaign breathing
The Lankan team will face the Pakistani side in their decisive last group game
Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai
The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna Akter 3-27
The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42
The Lankan side win by seven runs margin
Sri Lanka claimed four crucial dismissals in the last over to seal a thrilling victory over their opponents and maintain their slim chances of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.
Needing a modest score of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team wanted nine additional runs from the remaining six deliveries.
Yet, Lankan skipper Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to secure a thrilling win for Sri Lanka.
The triumph – Sri Lanka's first of the competition after three defeats and two no-results against Australia and the Kiwi side – elevates them equal on four points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.
The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, endured a fifth successive defeat since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been eliminated.
While Bangladesh made the ideal beginning, with Marufa striking with the initial ball of the game to dismiss Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a disappointing fielding display.
They provided second chances to Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and Athapaththu.
Although the Sri Lankan skipper failed to take advantage, sent back leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced the opposition pay.
She scored a debut international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 balls and building an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.
The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, fought themselves back in the game, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th over triggering a Lankan batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.
While batting second, the Lankan team's initial pace attack Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 for one in a lacklustre powerplay and they were later diminished to 44 for three.
Sharmin and Joty rebuilt their score, contributing an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter withdrew due to injury for a determined 64 in the 36th over.
It was in favor of the chasing team heading into the remaining two overs, with merely 12 more runs required.
Nevertheless, Dasanayaka removed Ritu and gave away merely three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as the Lankan team grabbed the victory at the final moment.
The Bangladeshi team are unable to hold nerve - and fielding opportunities
In the end, it was a contest of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a handful of teammates as she set herself to bowl the last over, kept her composure. The opposition failed to.
There will be numerous inquiries about the team's batting effort. They could easily have been needing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka appearing settled on 159 for four in the 30th over, but rather the target was significantly less.
Yet, the batting side displayed insufficient purpose from ball one, scoring at less than 2.5 runs each over during the initial phase, undergoing a early batting collapse, and ultimately leaving themselves overwhelming to achieve.
But no matter what issues there are with their batting, if they had taken their opportunities in the field, that 203-run target would have been substantially less.
It needed them three efforts to terminate the 72-run second-wicket, with keeper Nigar Sultana being unable to hold a tough chance as wicketkeeper to send back Hasini Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled opportunity against Rabeya Khan.
Perera was spilled once more on 55 runs and her score of 63, the last attempt going right to Jhilik at cover position, before finally being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with teammates being dismissed beside her.
Subsequently in the game, there was also a failed stumping and a missed run-out, although the latter was a slightly unlucky, with Jhilik substituting with the gloves after an injury to Joty.
Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are not at all a one-off. They've missed 14 catches from a available 27 opportunities at this tournament and boast the lowest catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.
They are a squad who are overall progressing in the right direction – they are competing in just their second one-day World Cup after all – but inadequate fielding is a prominent problem which requires attention.
