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

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

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

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

The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team took four crucial dismissals in the final over to complete a heart-stopping triumph over Bangladesh and keep their faint aspirations of making it for the tournament knockout stage alive.

Chasing a attainable total of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh needed nine more runs from the remaining six balls.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four balls and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to achieve a dramatic win for the Lankan team.

The win – the Lankan team's initial of the competition after three defeats and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – pushes them tied on four points with India and New Zealand, who face each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth consecutive loss since securing victory in their first match against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

While Bangladesh made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter striking with the initial ball of the encounter to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a disappointing fielding performance.

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

While the Sri Lankan skipper was unable to take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 a single bowl after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Perera made Bangladesh pay.

She scored a maiden international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 balls and building an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna's three wickets for 27 runs, dragged themselves back into the game, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th innings segment initiating a Lankan batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 complete.

During their chase, Sri Lanka's initial pace attack Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23-1 in a lacklustre powerplay and they were later brought down to 44-3.

Sharmin Akter and Joty restored their innings, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Sharmin retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was leaning toward the chasing team approaching the remaining two overs, with only 12 additional runs needed.

Nevertheless, Dasanayaka removed Ritu and conceded only three scoring runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as Sri Lanka snatched the win at the very end.

Ultimately, it was a game of nerves. The very experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a several of teammates as she got ready to deliver the final over, held hers. The opposition failed to.

There will be numerous inquiries about the team's batting display. They could easily have been pursuing 270 or 280 with the Lankan team seeming comfortable on 159 for four in the 30th bowling phase, but instead the required total was significantly less.

However, the batting side lacked purpose from the start, accumulating runs at below 2.5 runs each over during the initial phase, experiencing a top-order collapse, and ultimately leaving themselves excessive to achieve.

But whatever problems there are with their batting, if they had accepted their chances in the field, that 203-run goal would have been significantly lower.

It required them three tries to break the 72-run stand second-wicket, with keeper Joty being unable to grab a tough opportunity as wicketkeeper to remove Hasini Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya.

The batter was spilled further on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the final opportunity flying directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being given out leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she tried to accelerate the scoring with partners being dismissed beside her.

Later in the game, there was also a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, although the run-out chance was a slightly regrettable, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties following an injury to Joty.

Sadly for the team, such fielding problems are nowhere near a one-off. They've dropped 14 catches from a available 27 at this World Cup and display the poorest catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.

They are a team who are generally heading in the right direction – they are participating in just their second ODI World Cup ultimately – but substandard fielding is a obvious concern which needs attention.