Sri Lanka overcomes the Bangladeshi side to preserve their World Cup tournament hopes breathing

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs

Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the final innings segment to complete a heart-stopping victory over Bangladesh and keep their narrow chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Chasing a attainable total of 203 on a favorable wicket in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team required nine runs from the final six bowls.

Yet, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a thrilling win for Sri Lanka.

The triumph – the Lankan team's initial of the World Cup after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against Australia and the Kiwi side – moves them level on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, experienced a fifth consecutive setback since winning their initial game against Pakistan and have been eliminated.

While Bangladesh made the perfect start, with Marufa striking with the first delivery of the game to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly punished for a disappointing fielding effort.

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

While the Sri Lankan skipper failed to make it count, removed lbw for 46 one ball after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Perera made the opposition pay.

She scored a debut international fifty, accumulating 85 from 99 balls and sharing an important 74-run partnership fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, guided by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back to the game, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th innings segment causing a Lankan downfall from 174 with four wickets down to 202 complete.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained Bangladesh to 23 for one in a lacklustre powerplay and they were afterwards diminished to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their innings, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket collaboration before the batter withdrew due to injury for a resolute 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh entering the final two bowling phases, with just 12 runs required.

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka sent back Ritu Moni and gave away merely three scoring runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka seized the win at the final moment.

Finally, it was a game of nerves. The very experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a handful of fellow players as she got ready to bowl the final over, kept her nerve. The opposition failed to.

There will be plenty of questions about the team's batting effort. They might well have been chasing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka looking settled on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the required total was much lower.

However, Bangladesh displayed insufficient aggression from ball one, making runs at less than 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, undergoing a top-order collapse, and finally forcing themselves excessive to achieve.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their opportunities in the fielding department, that 203-run target would have been significantly smaller.

It needed them three efforts to end the 72-run partnership second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Joty being unable to take a difficult catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was dropped once more on 55 and 63 runs, the latter chance going straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before finally being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she tried to up the ante with batting partners being dismissed around her.

Subsequently in the batting effort, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the run-out chance was a little regrettable, with Rubya Haider substituting with the gloves after an injury 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 opportunities at this tournament and boast the poorest catching success rate (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are typically moving in the right direction – they are competing in just their second 50-over World Cup ultimately – but substandard fielding standards is a prominent problem which demands attention.