The Lankan team beats the Bangladeshi side to keep their World Cup campaign breathing
The Lankan team will face the Pakistani side in their decisive final tournament match
Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai
Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Hasini Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27
Bangladesh 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42
The Lankan side win by seven runs margin
Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the final innings segment to seal a thrilling triumph over their opponents and preserve their narrow chances of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals intact.
Pursuing a below-par score of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, the Bangladeshi team required nine more runs from the remaining six balls.
Yet, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three crucial wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a exciting win for Sri Lanka.
The triumph – Sri Lanka's maiden of the tournament after three losses and two abandoned games against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them equal on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.
Bangladesh, in contrast, suffered a fifth consecutive defeat since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been knocked out.
Even though Bangladesh got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa striking with the initial ball of the encounter to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a subpar fielding effort.
They offered second chances to Perera, who was dropped on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.
While the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to capitalise, removed lbw for 46 one ball after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition suffer.
She registered a maiden international half-century, making 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an crucial 74-run partnership fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.
Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back into the contest, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th over causing a Lankan collapse from 174-4 to 202 total.
While batting second, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Malki Madara and Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a uninspiring opening overs and they were later reduced to 44 for three.
Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty reconstructed their score, adding 82 for the fourth wicket stand before the batter retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th bowling phase.
It was in favor of the chasing team entering the last two overs, with merely 12 runs needed.
However, Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and conceded merely three scoring runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as the Lankan team grabbed the triumph at the very end.
Bangladesh fail to maintain composure - and catches
In the end, it was a contest of nerves. The very experienced Lankan captain, who directed away a several of teammates as she prepared to bowl the last over, held her composure. Bangladesh did not.
There will be many doubts about the team's batting effort. They might well have been chasing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team appearing settled on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th over, but in contrast the required total was much lower.
Yet, the batting side showed little purpose from ball one, accumulating runs at under 2.5 runs each over during the powerplay, experiencing a top-order collapse, and finally making themselves excessive to do.
But no matter what issues there are with their batting lineup, if they had seized their chances in the field, that 203-run goal would have been substantially less.
It needed them three efforts to break the 72-run stand second-wicket collaboration, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to take a difficult chance behind the stumps to remove Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya Khan.
Perera was spilled further on 55 and 63 runs, the latter chance traveling directly to Jhilik at cover field, before ultimately being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna as she attempted to increase the tempo with teammates getting out near her.
Subsequently in the batting effort, there was furthermore a missed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the second one was a little unfortunate, with Rubya Haider deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves after an fitness issue to the regular keeper.
Unfortunately for the team, such fielding problems are not at all a one-off. They've dropped 14 opportunities from a available 27 at this World Cup and boast the lowest fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the participating teams.
They are a squad who are generally progressing in the right direction – they are playing in merely their second 50-over World Cup ultimately – but poor fielding standards is a obvious concern which demands attention.
