The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to preserve their World Cup campaign ongoing
The Lankan team will face the Pakistani side in their crucial final group match
ICC Women's 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); Athapaththu 4-42
The Lankan side win by seven runs margin
Sri Lanka took four crucial dismissals in the last over to complete a thrilling victory over Bangladesh and maintain their slim aspirations of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.
Chasing a below-par total of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, the Bangladeshi team wanted nine more runs from the remaining six balls.
However, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu took three wickets in four deliveries and de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a thrilling win for the Lankan team.
The win – Sri Lanka's initial of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two washed-out matches against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them level on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on Thursday.
Bangladesh, in contrast, experienced a fifth consecutive loss since securing victory in their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been removed from contention.
Even though Bangladesh got off to the perfect start, with Marufa taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the encounter to remove Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a poor fielding effort.
They provided reprieves to Hasini Perera, who was missed on three occasions, and the Lankan captain.
While Athapaththu was unable to capitalise, removed leg before wicket for 46 one ball after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Perera made the opposition suffer.
She achieved a debut international 50-run score, accumulating 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.
Bangladesh, guided by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, dragged themselves back to the game, with Nilakshi's wicket in the 34th innings segment causing a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 complete.
While batting second, Sri Lanka's opening bowlers Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23 for one in a lacklustre initial phase and they were subsequently reduced to 44 for three.
Sharmin Akter and Joty rebuilt their innings, contributing an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket stand before Sharmin retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.
It was in favor of Bangladesh heading into the final two bowling phases, with just 12 additional runs necessary.
Nevertheless, Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and gave away merely three runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all removed as Sri Lanka seized the victory at the death.
Bangladesh fail to keep calm - and catches
In the end, it was a contest of composure. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who moved aside a several of team-mates as she got ready to bowl the decisive over, maintained her composure. The opposition could not.
There will be many questions about Bangladesh's batting performance. They might well have been pursuing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka seeming settled on 159-4 in the 30th over, but rather the required total was significantly less.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh displayed insufficient purpose from the start, accumulating runs at less than 2.5 runs per over during the opening overs, suffering a top-order collapse, and finally forcing themselves too much to achieve.
But no matter what issues there are with their batting lineup, if they had accepted their chances in the field, that 203 total target would have been considerably less.
It required them three tries to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with keeper Joty not managing to grab a tough opportunity while keeping to remove Perera on 23 runs before the captain got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance opportunity against Rabeya Khan.
Perera was dropped again on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling right to Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being trapped lbw by Shorna Akter as she tried to up the ante with teammates falling near her.
Subsequently in the batting effort, there was also a failed stumping and a missed run-out, although the second one was a somewhat regrettable, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves due to an injury to Joty.
Regrettably for Bangladesh, such fielding problems are not at all a isolated incident. They've missed 14 chances from a potential 27 at this tournament and have the worst catching success rate (48.1%) of the eight teams.
They are a team who are generally moving in the right direction – they are playing in only their second 50-over World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding standards is a glaring issue which demands attention.
