The Lankan team defeats Bangladesh to keep their World Cup campaign breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka secured four crucial dismissals in the final over to complete a heart-stopping win over their opponents and keep their slim aspirations of making it for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Chasing a modest target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine additional runs from the last six deliveries.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three important dismissals in four bowls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to achieve a dramatic success for Sri Lanka.

The win – the Lankan team's maiden of the tournament after three losses and two abandoned games against the Australian team and New Zealand – moves them level on four match points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, in contrast, endured a fifth straight defeat since winning their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

While Bangladesh made the excellent commencement, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the game to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a poor fielding effort.

They provided lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

While Athapaththu could not capitalise, sent back leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She registered a maiden international fifty, making 85 from 99 bowls and building an significant 74-run fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, fought themselves back into the contest, with Nilakshi's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Lankan batting collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.

In reply, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a lacklustre initial phase and they were later diminished to 44-3.

Sharmin and Joty rebuilt their innings, adding 82 for the fourth wicket before the batter retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

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

However, Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and allowed only three scoring runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka grabbed the victory at the final moment.

Finally, it was a match of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a few of team-mates as she got ready to deliver the final over, kept her nerve. Bangladesh did not.

There will be many doubts about Bangladesh's batting performance. They could easily have been pursuing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka appearing at ease on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but in contrast the required total was considerably smaller.

However, Bangladesh displayed insufficient aggression from the very beginning, making runs at less than 2.5 scoring rate during the initial phase, undergoing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately making themselves overwhelming to achieve.

But whatever issues there are with their batting lineup, if they had accepted their catches in the fielding department, that 203-run goal would have been considerably less.

It required them three efforts to break the 72-run second-wicket, with wicketkeeper Joty not managing to take a challenging catch while keeping to remove Perera on 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance against Rabeya.

The batter was missed once more on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the last attempt flying directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before finally being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she sought to up the ante with teammates falling beside her.

Subsequently in the batting effort, there was also a stumping chance missed and a failed run-out, while the second one was a slightly unfortunate, with Jhilik deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves following an injury to Joty.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh, such fielding problems are not at all a one-off. They've dropped 14 catches from a available 27 at this World Cup and have the lowest catch efficiency (48.1%) of the participating teams.

They are a team who are typically heading in the correct path – they are participating in just their second ODI World Cup ultimately – but inadequate fielding is a obvious concern which needs focus.