Four wickets in four balls as Sri Lanka keep hopes alive

Navi Mumbai, ICC Women’s World Cup

Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99), Shorna 3-27

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

Seven wickets help Sri Lanka win.

In the final over, Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh to claim a stunning victory, keeping their slim chances of making it to the World Cup semi-finals alive.

Bangladesh needed nine runs from the final six deliveries to reach a subpar target of 203 on a good pitch in Navi Mumbai.

However, as Bangladesh chased a single from the second delivery, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu took wickets on the first, third, and fourth balls of the over, and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida Akter.

After three defeats and two failed matches against Australia and New Zealand, Sri Lanka’s first tournament victory places them four points ahead of India and New Zealand, who meet on Thursday.

Although Bangladesh had a flawless start, Marufa Akter striking with Vishmi Gunaratne’s first delivery of the match, was unfairly punished for their subpar fielding display.

Hasini Perera, who was dropped three times, and Athapaththu were given lifelines by them.

Perera made Bangladesh pay even though Athapaththu was unable to capitalize and refused to score after Rabeya Khan had put him down.

She and De Silva shared a significant 74-run fifth-wicket stand with her debut international half-century, making 85 from 99 balls.

With De Silva’s dismissal in the 34th over triggering a Sri Lanka collapse from 174-4 to 202 all out, Bangladesh, led by Shorna Akter’s 3-27, dragged themselves back into the game.

In response, Bangladesh was later reduced to 44-3 thanks to Sri Lanka’s opening bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani’s 23-1 powerplay.

Before Sharmin retired hurt for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over, Nigar Sultana Joty and Sharmin Akter rebuilt their innings, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket.

With only 12 runs remaining, Bangladesh had an advantage heading into the final two overs.

In the end, it was a nerve-wracking game. As she prepared to bowl the final over, the highly skilled Athapaththu held her own. Bangladesh did not.

Bangladesh’s batting performance will be subject to a lot of questions. With Sri Lanka looking comfortable on 159-4 in the final 30th over, they could have easily been chasing 270 or 280, but the target was much lower.

Bangladesh, however, struggled to put any effort into ball one, scoring on the powerplay with just under 2.5 runs per over and falling short of what they needed to do.

However, if they had taken their chances in the field, that 203-run target would have been much smaller, despite their batting woes.

After three more failed attempts, wicketkeeper Joty failed to remove Perera on 23 before Athapaththu survived a caught and bowled chance against Rabeya to break the 72-run second-wicket stand. She got two hands to it after being viciously struck back at the bowler.

Rubya Haider Jhilik received a second chance at 55 and 63, but Rubya Haider Jhilik was able to get the better of it when Shorna tried to raise the bar with partners falling on her.

A missed stumping and a missed run-out were also missed in the later innings, though the latter one was slightly unfortunate, with Jhilik holding the gloves while Joty was hurt.

Unfortunately, Bangladesh’s fielding issues are not unique. At this tournament, they have the lowest catch efficiency (48.1%) among the eight teams, and they have dropped 14 catches from a possible 27.