The Lankan team beats the Bangladeshi side to maintain their World Cup tournament hopes breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Mumbai

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

The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs

The Lankan cricket team secured four wickets in the last innings segment to seal a thrilling win over Bangladesh and preserve their faint aspirations of qualifying for the tournament knockout stage intact.

Chasing a attainable target of 203 on a good batting surface in Navi Mumbai, Bangladesh required nine more runs from the last six deliveries.

However, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three crucial wickets in four balls and de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to secure a thrilling win for Sri Lanka.

The win – Sri Lanka's first of the tournament after three defeats and two washed-out matches against the Australian team and New Zealand – elevates them tied on four tournament points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, experienced a fifth consecutive defeat since securing victory in their first match against the Pakistani team and have been eliminated.

Although the Bangladeshi side got off to the ideal beginning, with Marufa Akter striking with the initial ball of the game to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly made to pay for a subpar fielding effort.

They provided second chances to Perera, who was dropped on three occasions, and Athapaththu.

Although Athapaththu could not take advantage, removed lbw for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera forced Bangladesh pay.

She scored a debut international half-century, accumulating 85 from 99 bowls and building an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's impressive bowling figures, pulled themselves back into the match, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th innings segment causing a Lankan collapse from 174-4 to 202 all out.

While batting second, Sri Lanka's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a uninspiring opening overs and they were later diminished to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin and Joty reconstructed their batting effort, contributing 82 for the fourth wicket before the batter retired hurt for a resolute 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was advantage Bangladesh heading into the final two overs, with just 12 runs required.

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and allowed just three runs before the captain's dramatic spell, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, captain Joty and Marufa Akter all dismissed as the Lankan team snatched the win at the death.

Finally, it was a contest of nerves. The seasoned Athapaththu, who ushered away a few of teammates as she set herself to deliver the decisive over, kept her nerve. The opposition did not.

There will be plenty of doubts about the team's batting performance. They possibly have been pursuing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka seeming settled on 159-4 in the 30th over, but rather the required total was much lower.

However, the batting side showed little intent from the start, making runs at under 2.5 scoring rate during the initial phase, undergoing a top-order collapse, and ultimately making themselves excessive to accomplish.

But whatever problems there are with their batting lineup, if they had taken their chances in the fielding department, that 203-run target would have been considerably lower.

It required them three attempts to break the 72-run second-wicket, with keeper Nigar Sultana failing to take a challenging opportunity as wicketkeeper to send back Perera on 23 runs before Athapaththu got a reprieve from a return catch chance against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was missed further on 55 and her score of 63, the final opportunity flying right to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover, before finally being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she sought to accelerate the scoring with partners falling beside her.

Afterwards in the game, there was furthermore a missed stumping and a failed run-out, even though the latter was a somewhat unfortunate, with Jhilik standing in with the gloves due to an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Sadly for the team, such fielding woes are far from a one-off. They've dropped 14 catches from a available 27 at this tournament and display the poorest catch efficiency (48.1%) of the competing sides.

They are a side who are generally heading in the right direction – they are playing in only their second one-day World Cup in the end – but inadequate fielding standards is a glaring problem which demands focus.