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

Women's Cricket World Cup, Mumbai

Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Hasini Perera 85 (99); Shorna Akter 3-27

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

The Lankan side emerge victorious by seven runs

Sri Lanka secured four crucial dismissals in the last over to achieve a nail-biting triumph over Bangladesh and keep their narrow aspirations of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals ongoing.

Pursuing a attainable score of 203 on a good batting surface in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh needed nine more runs from the final six bowls.

However, Lankan skipper Athapaththu took three wickets in four deliveries and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to secure a thrilling win for the Lankan team.

The victory – Sri Lanka's initial of the World Cup after three defeats and two abandoned games against Australia and New Zealand – moves them equal on four tournament points with India and the New Zealand side, who face each other on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, however, suffered a fifth successive loss since securing victory in their first match against Pakistan and have been knocked out.

While Bangladesh made the perfect start, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the game to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne, they were deservedly penalized for a disappointing fielding performance.

They provided lifelines to Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

While the Sri Lankan skipper failed to take advantage, removed leg before wicket for 46 a single bowl after being missed by Rabeya Khan, Hasini Perera forced the opposition pay.

She achieved a first international fifty, making 85 from 99 bowls and contributing to an important 74-run stand fifth-wicket with Nilakshi de Silva.

The Bangladeshi team, guided by Shorna's impressive bowling figures, pulled themselves back into the match, with De Silva's dismissal in the 34th bowling segment triggering a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 complete.

In reply, the Lankan team's opening bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani limited Bangladesh to 23 for one in a lacklustre powerplay and they were later brought down to 44 for three.

Sharmin Akter and Joty restored their score, putting on an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket stand before the batter left the field injured for a determined 64 in the 36th innings segment.

It was leaning toward Bangladesh heading into the final two innings segments, with merely 12 additional runs required.

Nevertheless, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu and gave away only three runs before Athapaththu's chaos, with Rabeya Khan, Nahida, skipper Joty and Marufa all removed as Sri Lanka seized the win at the final moment.

Finally, it was a game of nerve. The highly experienced Lankan captain, who ushered away a several of fellow players as she got ready to bowl the last over, held her nerve. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be plenty of doubts about the team's batting display. They could easily have been needing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka seeming settled on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th innings segment, but instead the chase was significantly less.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh lacked intent from the very beginning, making runs at less than 2.5 runs per over during the initial phase, suffering a initial wicket loss, and finally making themselves too much to accomplish.

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

It required them three tries to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Joty being unable to hold a tough chance behind the stumps to dismiss Hasini Perera on 23 before the captain was spared from a return catch opportunity against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was missed once more on 55 and her score of 63, the last attempt flying straight to Rubya Haider Jhilik at cover field, before finally being dismissed lbw by Shorna Akter as she tried to increase the tempo with batting partners falling near her.

Later in the batting effort, there was also a missed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the second one was a somewhat regrettable, with Jhilik substituting with the gloves following an fitness issue to Joty.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding issues are far from a single occurrence. They've failed to catch 14 opportunities from a potential 27 opportunities at this competition and boast the lowest catch efficiency (48.1%) of the eight teams.

They are a squad who are generally progressing in the correct path – they are playing in just their second ODI World Cup ultimately – but inadequate fielding is a prominent issue which demands attention.