Sri Lanka overcomes Bangladesh to preserve their campaign breathing
The Lankan team will confront the Pakistani side in their must-win final tournament game
Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai
The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna Akter 3-27
The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42
The Lankan side win by seven runs margin
The Lankan cricket team took four crucial dismissals in the last over to complete a nail-biting victory over Bangladesh and preserve their narrow chances of making it for the World Cup semi-finals intact.
Pursuing a attainable score of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team needed nine more runs from the final six balls.
However, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu secured three wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to bring about a exciting victory for the Lankan team.
The win – Sri Lanka's first of the tournament after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four match points with India and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, endured a fifth straight defeat since winning their tournament opener against Pakistan and have been eliminated.
Although Bangladesh made the perfect start, with Marufa taking a wicket with the first delivery of the match to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a disappointing fielding performance.
They provided second chances to Hasini Perera, who was spilled three times, and Athapaththu.
Although the Sri Lankan skipper failed to take advantage, dismissed lbw for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.
She achieved a first international half-century, making 85 from 99 balls and contributing to an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with Nilakshi de Silva.
The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna's impressive bowling figures, fought themselves back in the game, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th innings segment causing a Sri Lanka downfall from 174-4 to 202 total.
In reply, the Lankan team's initial pace attack Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted Bangladesh to 23 for one in a lacklustre opening overs and they were subsequently diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.
Sharmin Akter and Joty reconstructed their innings, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket before the batter left the field injured for a resolute 64 in the 36th bowling phase.
It was leaning toward the chasing team approaching the last two overs, with just 12 more runs required.
Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and allowed merely three runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa all dismissed as the Lankan team grabbed the win at the death.
The Bangladeshi team fail to hold nerve - and catches
Finally, it was a contest of composure. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who moved aside a few of team-mates as she prepared to deliver the last over, kept hers. The opposition failed to.
There will be plenty of doubts about Bangladesh's batting effort. They possibly have been needing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka looking comfortable on 159-4 in the 30th bowling phase, but in contrast the required total was significantly less.
However, the batting side showed little aggression from the start, making runs at less than 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, suffering a initial wicket loss, and ultimately leaving themselves overwhelming to achieve.
But whatever problems there are with their batting lineup, if they had taken their chances in the fielding area, that 203-run target goal would have been considerably smaller.
It required them three tries to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana not managing to take a difficult catch behind the stumps to dismiss Perera on 23 runs before the captain survived from a caught and bowled chance chance against Rabeya.
The batter was dropped once more on 55 runs and 63 runs, the final opportunity flying straight to Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna as she attempted to increase the tempo with partners being dismissed near her.
Subsequently in the batting effort, there was additionally a missed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, even though the run-out chance was a little unlucky, with Jhilik deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves after an injury to Joty.
Sadly for the team, such fielding issues are nowhere near a isolated incident. They've failed to catch 14 catches from a potential 27 opportunities at this tournament and have the poorest fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the eight teams.
They are a squad who are overall progressing in the correct path – they are competing in only their second ODI World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding is a glaring concern which demands attention.
