The Lankan team defeats the Bangladeshi side to maintain their campaign breathing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team claimed four crucial dismissals in the decisive over to complete a nail-biting win over their opponents and keep their faint chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Pursuing a attainable target of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh required nine more runs from the last six bowls.

However, Lankan skipper Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to bring about a dramatic success for Sri Lanka.

The triumph – the Lankan team's first of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against Australia and the Kiwi side – pushes them tied on four tournament points with India and New Zealand, who confront each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, suffered a fifth straight setback since securing victory in their first match against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Although the Bangladeshi side made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter striking with the first delivery of the match to send back Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a poor fielding performance.

They provided second chances to Perera, who was missed on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.

While the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to take advantage, removed lbw for 46 just one delivery after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.

She scored a maiden international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 bowls and contributing to an important 74-run fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back in the match, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th bowling segment initiating a Lankan downfall from 174 for four to 202 all out.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23-1 in a lacklustre initial phase and they were afterwards diminished to 44-3.

Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their score, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket stand before the batter retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th over.

It was in favor of the chasing team approaching the last two bowling phases, with just 12 more runs required.

However, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and conceded just three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka snatched the win at the final moment.

In the end, it was a match of nerves. The seasoned Lankan captain, who ushered away a few of team-mates as she prepared to deliver the decisive over, held her nerve. The opposition did not.

There will be numerous questions about Bangladesh's batting performance. They might well have been needing around 270-280 with the Lankan team appearing comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the required total was much lower.

Nevertheless, the batting side displayed insufficient intent from the start, scoring at below 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately forcing themselves too much to do.

But whatever problems there are with their batting lineup, if they had seized their catches in the fielding department, that 203 total objective would have been significantly less.

It needed them three tries to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket collaboration, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to take a tough opportunity as wicketkeeper to remove Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu survived from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

The batter was dropped again on her score of 55 and 63, the latter chance going straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before ultimately being given out leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she tried to increase the tempo with partners being dismissed near her.

Afterwards in the game, there was also a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, while the run-out chance was a somewhat unfortunate, with Rubya Haider standing in with the gloves due to an injury to Joty.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding woes are far from a isolated incident. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a available 27 opportunities at this tournament and have the lowest fielding effectiveness (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a team who are overall heading in the right direction – they are participating in just their second ODI World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding is a obvious concern which requires improvement.