The Lankan team defeats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their tournament hopes breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Hasini Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27

Bangladesh 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs

Sri Lanka claimed four wickets in the last innings segment to seal a nail-biting triumph over their opponents and preserve their slim chances of making it for the World Cup semi-finals alive.

Chasing a modest target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team required nine more runs from the final six balls.

However, Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu took three wickets in four deliveries and de Silva dismissed via run-out Nahida Akter to bring about a thrilling win for Sri Lanka.

The victory – Sri Lanka's maiden of the competition after three defeats and two washed-out matches against Australia and New Zealand – pushes them equal on four tournament points with the Indian team and New Zealand, who confront each other on Thursday.

Bangladesh, however, endured a fifth straight setback since winning their initial game against Pakistan and have been eliminated.

Although Bangladesh got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa Akter striking with the first delivery of the encounter to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a poor fielding effort.

They gifted lifelines to Perera, who was dropped multiple times, and Athapaththu.

While the Sri Lankan skipper could not capitalise, removed leg before wicket for 46 one ball after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Perera made the opposition pay.

She registered a maiden international fifty, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket with De Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna Akter's three wickets for 27 runs, pulled themselves back into the match, with De Silva's dismissal 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 initial pace attack Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 for one in a lacklustre opening overs and they were afterwards reduced to 44 with three wickets lost.

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 leaning toward Bangladesh approaching the final two bowling phases, with just 12 additional runs necessary.

Nevertheless, Dasanayaka removed Ritu Moni and allowed merely three runs before the captain's dramatic spell, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa all dismissed as Sri Lanka grabbed the win at the death.

Ultimately, it was a match of nerves. The very experienced Athapaththu, who moved aside a handful of team-mates as she prepared to deliver the decisive over, kept hers. The opposition did not.

There will be plenty of inquiries about the team's batting performance. They might well have been chasing around 270-280 with the Lankan team seeming at ease on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th over, but in contrast the chase was significantly less.

Yet, Bangladesh lacked intent from the start, making runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the opening overs, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and ultimately forcing themselves too much to achieve.

But whatever difficulties there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their opportunities in the fielding department, that 203-run target would have been considerably smaller.

It took them three tries to break the 72-run stand second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana failing to grab a difficult catch behind the stumps to remove Perera on 23 runs before the captain survived from a caught and bowled possibility against Rabeya.

Perera was spilled again on 55 and her score of 63, the latter chance going directly to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before ultimately being dismissed leg before wicket by Shorna Akter as she attempted to accelerate the scoring with batting partners falling beside her.

Later in the game, there was furthermore a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the run-out chance was a little unfortunate, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties due to an fitness issue to the regular keeper.

Regrettably for the team, such fielding problems are far from a single occurrence. They've failed to catch 14 catches from a possible 27 opportunities at this World Cup and have the poorest catch efficiency (less than 50%) of the participating teams.

They are a side who are generally heading in the right direction – they are participating in only their second one-day World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding is a obvious problem which requires attention.