Sri Lanka defeats Bangladesh to maintain their World Cup tournament hopes alive
The Lankan team will meet Pakistan in their decisive final group game
ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai
Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Hasini Perera 85 (99); Shorna Akter 3-27
The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42
Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin
The Lankan cricket team claimed four crucial dismissals in the decisive innings segment to achieve a nail-biting win over their opponents and preserve their faint chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.
Chasing a attainable total of 203 on a favorable wicket in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh needed nine additional runs from the remaining six deliveries.
However, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to bring about a exciting success for the Lankan team.
The victory – Sri Lanka's maiden of the competition after three losses and two no-results against the Australian team and the Kiwi side – elevates them level on four points with India and New Zealand, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.
The Bangladeshi team, in contrast, suffered a fifth consecutive loss since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.
While Bangladesh made the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the match to remove Gunaratne, they were rightfully punished for a disappointing fielding effort.
They offered reprieves to Perera, who was dropped on three occasions, and Athapaththu.
Although the Sri Lankan skipper could not capitalise, removed leg before wicket for 46 just one delivery after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Perera made the opposition regret it.
She achieved a debut international fifty, accumulating 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 Akter's impressive bowling figures, pulled themselves back in the contest, with De Silva's removal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.
In reply, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani contained Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a lacklustre initial phase and they were later reduced to 44 for three.
Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty rebuilt their innings, putting on 82 runs for the fourth wicket before Sharmin left the field injured for a determined 64 in the 36th over.
It was advantage Bangladesh approaching the last two innings segments, with only 12 more runs required.
However, Sugandika Dasanayaka removed Ritu and allowed merely three scoring runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, captain Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka seized the win at the final moment.
The Bangladeshi team fail to hold nerve - and fielding opportunities
Ultimately, it was a contest of composure. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a few of fellow players as she got ready to bowl the final over, maintained her composure. Bangladesh did not.
There will be numerous inquiries about the team's batting performance. They could easily have been chasing 270 to 280 with Sri Lanka looking at ease on 159-4 in the 30th bowling phase, but rather the required total was significantly less.
However, the batting side displayed insufficient aggression from the start, making runs at under 2.5 runs per over during the opening overs, experiencing a top-order collapse, and ultimately making themselves too much to achieve.
But no matter what difficulties there are with their batting approach, if they had taken their catches in the fielding area, that 203 total goal would have been considerably smaller.
It took them three attempts to terminate the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to grab a challenging chance behind the stumps to dismiss Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu was spared from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya Khan.
The batter was spilled once more on 55 and 63 runs, the last attempt flying right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover position, before finally being trapped leg before wicket by Shorna as she sought to increase the tempo with teammates getting out around her.
Afterwards in the innings, there was also a stumping chance missed and a run-out opportunity lost, while the run-out chance was a somewhat unlucky, with Jhilik deputising with the wicketkeeping gloves due to an fitness issue to the regular keeper.
Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding woes are far from a single occurrence. They've missed 14 catches from a possible 27 at this tournament and display the lowest fielding effectiveness (less than 50%) of the participating teams.
They are a squad who are generally progressing in the proper way – they are participating in merely their second 50-over World Cup after all – but substandard fielding is a glaring concern which requires focus.
