The Lankan team beats the Bangladeshi side to keep their World Cup tournament hopes ongoing
The Lankan team will confront the Pakistani side in their decisive last group match
ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai
Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Hasini Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27
The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42
The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs margin
The Lankan cricket team claimed four crucial dismissals in the final innings segment to seal a heart-stopping win over their opponents and keep their faint hopes of making it for the tournament knockout stage alive.
Needing a below-par score of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the remaining six balls.
Nevertheless, Lankan skipper Athapaththu took three important dismissals in four bowls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to bring about a dramatic win for Sri Lanka.
The victory – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three defeats and two abandoned games against Australia and the Kiwi side – moves them level on four match points with India and New Zealand, who face each other on Thursday.
The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth successive loss since winning their first match against Pakistan and have been knocked out.
While the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa taking a wicket with the initial ball of the game to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully penalized for a disappointing fielding performance.
They provided second chances to Perera, who was spilled three times, and the Lankan captain.
Although Athapaththu was unable to take advantage, dismissed leg before wicket for 46 one ball after being put down by Rabeya, Hasini Perera made Bangladesh pay.
She achieved a first international fifty, accumulating 85 from 99 bowls and sharing an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.
The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, fought themselves back into the game, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.
While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23 for one in a lacklustre initial phase and they were afterwards diminished to 44-3.
Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their innings, adding 82 for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin retired hurt for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.
It was leaning toward Bangladesh entering the last two bowling phases, with just 12 more runs needed.
Nevertheless, Dasanayaka sent back Ritu and conceded just three runs before Athapaththu's decisive intervention, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka snatched the victory at the very end.
Bangladesh fail to keep calm - and fielding opportunities
Ultimately, it was a match of nerve. The seasoned Athapaththu, who directed away a handful of fellow players as she prepared to deliver the last over, maintained hers. Bangladesh could not.
There will be numerous inquiries about Bangladesh's batting performance. They could easily have been needing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka appearing settled on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but instead the target was much lower.
Nevertheless, the batting side lacked purpose from the very beginning, scoring at under 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, suffering a early batting collapse, and finally forcing themselves excessive to accomplish.
But whatever issues there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their catches in the field, that 203-run goal would have been considerably less.
It required them three attempts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana failing to grab a challenging chance behind the stumps to remove Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance possibility against Rabeya Khan.
The batter was dropped once more on 55 runs and 63, the latter chance traveling right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before eventually being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she tried to increase the tempo with partners getting out around her.
Subsequently in the game, there was also a failed stumping and a failed run-out, even though the second one was a somewhat regrettable, with Jhilik deputising with the keeping duties after an physical problem to the regular keeper.
Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are nowhere near a one-off. They've missed 14 chances from a potential 27 at this World Cup and have the lowest fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the competing sides.
They are a team who are overall progressing in the right direction – they are playing in only their second one-day World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding performance is a glaring problem which requires attention.
