The Lankan team defeats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their campaign ongoing
The Lankan team will meet Pakistan in their must-win last tournament match
Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai
Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna Akter 3-27
Bangladesh 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42
Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs margin
Sri Lanka claimed four wickets in the last innings segment to seal a heart-stopping win over their opponents and preserve their faint chances of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.
Needing a attainable target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team needed nine runs from the last six balls.
However, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu secured three crucial wickets in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a thrilling win for the Lankan team.
The triumph – Sri Lanka's initial of the World Cup after three unsuccessful matches and two abandoned games against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them equal on four points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who face each other on the coming Thursday.
Bangladesh, in contrast, experienced a fifth successive loss since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.
While the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the opening bowl of the encounter to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully penalized for a disappointing fielding performance.
They provided reprieves to Hasini Perera, who was missed multiple times, and Athapaththu.
Even though Athapaththu was unable to take advantage, removed lbw for 46 one ball after being dropped by Rabeya, Hasini Perera forced Bangladesh regret it.
She registered a first international fifty, making 85 from 99 balls and building an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.
Bangladesh, guided by Shorna Akter's 3-27, fought themselves back in the game, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th innings segment triggering a Sri Lanka downfall from 174-4 to 202 complete.
In reply, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained the opposition to 23 with one wicket down in a uninspiring powerplay and they were afterwards diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.
Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their innings, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin withdrew due to injury for a resolute 64 in the 36th bowling phase.
It was in favor of Bangladesh approaching the last two overs, with merely 12 more runs necessary.
Yet, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and conceded only three runs before the captain's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka grabbed the victory at the death.
The Bangladeshi team cannot maintain composure - and catches
In the end, it was a contest of composure. The seasoned Lankan captain, who ushered away a several of fellow players as she prepared to deliver the last over, maintained her nerve. The opposition failed to.
There will be plenty of doubts about the team's batting display. They could easily have been needing around 270-280 with the Lankan team seeming at ease on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but rather the required total was considerably smaller.
Yet, Bangladesh displayed insufficient aggression from the very beginning, making runs at below 2.5 runs each over during the initial phase, experiencing a early batting collapse, and eventually forcing themselves too much to accomplish.
But whatever difficulties there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their chances in the fielding department, that 203-run target target would have been considerably less.
It needed them three efforts to terminate the 72-run partnership second-wicket, with keeper Joty being unable to hold a tough catch behind the stumps to send back Perera on 23 runs before the captain was spared from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya.
Perera was dropped again on 55 and 63, the last attempt flying directly to Jhilik at cover, before eventually being given out lbw by Shorna as she sought to up the ante with batting partners falling near her.
Afterwards in the game, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, although the second one was a slightly unfortunate, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves due to an physical problem to the regular keeper.
Regrettably for the team, such fielding woes are not at all a one-off. They've dropped 14 chances from a available 27 at this tournament and have the lowest fielding effectiveness (48.1 percent) of the participating teams.
They are a squad who are typically heading in the proper way – they are competing in only their second ODI World Cup in the end – but substandard fielding performance is a glaring problem which needs improvement.
