The Lankan team beats Bangladesh to keep their tournament hopes ongoing
The Lankan team will meet the Pakistani side in their decisive final tournament match
Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai
The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna Akter 3-27
Bangladesh 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42
Sri Lanka emerge victorious by seven runs margin
The Lankan cricket team took four wickets in the final over to achieve a nail-biting triumph over their opponents and preserve their faint chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage intact.
Chasing a attainable target of 203 on a favorable wicket in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team required nine more runs from the remaining six deliveries.
However, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu claimed three crucial wickets in four balls and Nilakshi de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida to achieve a exciting win for Sri Lanka.
The victory – Sri Lanka's maiden of the World Cup after three losses and two washed-out matches against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them equal on four points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who face each other on the coming Thursday.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, experienced a fifth successive setback since winning their first match against Pakistan and have been eliminated.
While the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the match to remove Vishmi Gunaratne, they were rightfully penalized for a poor fielding performance.
They offered reprieves to Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and Athapaththu.
While the Sri Lankan skipper failed to capitalise, removed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera made the opposition pay.
She registered a debut international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 balls and building an crucial 74-run fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.
The Bangladeshi team, led by Shorna's 3-27, fought themselves back to the contest, with De Silva's wicket in the 34th innings segment causing a Sri Lanka downfall from 174-4 to 202 complete.
In reply, the Lankan team's initial pace attack Malki Madara and Prabodhani contained Bangladesh to 23 with one wicket down in a uninspiring powerplay and they were subsequently reduced to 44 with three wickets lost.
Sharmin and Nigar Sultana Joty restored their batting effort, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket stand before the batter withdrew due to injury for a stubborn 64 in the 36th innings segment.
It was in favor of Bangladesh approaching the last two overs, with just 12 runs required.
However, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and conceded merely three scoring runs before Athapaththu's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka seized the triumph at the final moment.
The Bangladeshi team fail to keep calm - and fielding opportunities
Finally, it was a match of composure. The seasoned Lankan captain, who ushered away a few of team-mates as she set herself to deliver the final over, held her nerve. Bangladesh failed to.
There will be many inquiries about Bangladesh's batting performance. They possibly have been chasing 270 to 280 with the Lankan team appearing settled on 159 for four in the 30th innings segment, but instead the target was much lower.
However, the batting side displayed insufficient purpose from the very beginning, scoring at under 2.5 runs per over during the initial phase, undergoing a top-order collapse, and finally making themselves excessive to accomplish.
But whatever issues there are with their batting, if they had accepted their catches in the fielding area, that 203-run target objective would have been significantly lower.
It took them three efforts to terminate the 72-run second-wicket association, with keeper Joty being unable to hold a tough opportunity behind the stumps to remove Perera on 23 before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a caught and bowled chance possibility against Rabeya.
Perera was missed again on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity traveling right to Jhilik at cover field, before finally being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she tried to up the ante with batting partners being dismissed near her.
Subsequently in the game, there was furthermore a stumping chance missed and a missed run-out, while the latter was a slightly regrettable, with Rubya Haider substituting with the keeping duties due to an physical problem to Joty.
Sadly for the team, such fielding issues are far from a single occurrence. They've missed 14 chances from a possible 27 at this competition and boast the worst catching success rate (less than 50%) of the eight teams.
They are a squad who are overall heading in the right direction – they are playing in only their second ODI World Cup after all – but substandard fielding is a obvious problem which needs focus.
