Sri Lanka overcomes Bangladesh to keep their World Cup campaign alive
The Lankan team will meet the Pakistani side in their crucial final tournament game
Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai
The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27
The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42
The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs margin
Sri Lanka secured four wickets in the last over to achieve a thrilling win over their opponents and maintain their narrow chances of making it for the World Cup semi-finals ongoing.
Chasing a attainable total of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh required nine runs from the last six balls.
Yet, Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu claimed three crucial wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to secure a dramatic success for Sri Lanka.
The triumph – the Lankan team's first of the competition after three defeats and two abandoned games against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them equal on four points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who face each other on Thursday.
Bangladesh, in contrast, endured a fifth straight defeat since securing victory in their first match against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.
Although Bangladesh made the excellent commencement, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the first delivery of the encounter to remove Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a poor fielding effort.
They provided lifelines to Hasini Perera, who was missed three times, and the Lankan captain.
Although Athapaththu could not capitalise, sent back lbw for 46 just one delivery after being missed by Rabeya, Perera forced the opposition regret it.
She achieved a first international fifty, accumulating 85 from 99 bowls and sharing an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket with De Silva.
Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, dragged themselves back in the game, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th innings segment causing a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 all out.
In reply, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 for one in a uninspiring powerplay and they were later diminished to 44 for three.
Sharmin Akter and Nigar Sultana Joty rebuilt their batting effort, adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket before the batter withdrew due to injury for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.
It was in favor of the chasing team entering the last two bowling phases, with only 12 additional runs required.
However, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu and conceded just three scoring runs before the captain's decisive intervention, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all dismissed as Sri Lanka seized the victory at the death.
Bangladesh are unable to maintain composure - and catches
In the end, it was a contest of nerve. The very experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a handful of fellow players as she set herself to bowl the last over, kept her nerve. The opposition did not.
There will be many inquiries about the team's batting display. They might well have been pursuing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka appearing at ease on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but instead the required total was much lower.
Nevertheless, the batting side displayed insufficient purpose from ball one, making runs at less than 2.5 runs per over during the powerplay, suffering a initial wicket loss, and finally leaving themselves too much to achieve.
But no matter what issues there are with their batting lineup, if they had accepted their catches in the fielding department, that 203 total goal would have been considerably less.
It required them three efforts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket collaboration, with keeper Joty not managing to hold a tough catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu was spared from a return catch possibility against Rabeya.
The batter was spilled further on 55 runs and her score of 63, the latter chance flying straight to Jhilik at cover position, before eventually being trapped lbw by Shorna as she tried to accelerate the scoring with teammates falling around her.
Afterwards in the innings, there was additionally a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, even though the run-out chance was a somewhat regrettable, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves due to an fitness issue to Joty.
Unfortunately for the team, such fielding problems are not at all a isolated incident. They've missed 14 chances from a available 27 chances at this competition and have the lowest catch efficiency (48.1 percent) of the eight teams.
They are a side who are generally heading in the proper way – they are participating in only their second one-day World Cup after all – but inadequate fielding is a glaring concern which demands improvement.
