Sri Lanka snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to claim their first Women’s World Cup victory as they edged out Bangladesh by seven runs in a thrilling finish in Navi Mumbai on Monday. (Getty Images) Sri Lanka snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to claim their first Women’s World Cup victory as they edged out Bangladesh by seven runs in a thrilling finish in Navi Mumbai on Monday. Cruising Bangladesh – needing just nine runs from the final over with five wickets in hand and scoring just three from the penultimate over – captain Chamari Athapaththu took the ball single-handedly and turned the match around.Four wickets fell in four balls as Bangladesh collapsed, losing five wickets for just two runs.
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Athapaththu, calm under pressure, finished with career-best figures of 4-42.The drama started with Rabeya Khan getting stuck leg in front of the wicket in the first delivery, which was immediately followed by a run-out.Bangladesh’s hopes suffered another blow when skipper Nigar Sultana advanced down the track but was caught at long-on.When Marufa Akter was ruled lbw on the next ball, Athapaththu did the unthinkable, saving nine runs while conceding just one in the over.“We handled the pressure well. We knew that if we took the game deep, teams could fall apart,” Athapaththu said. “It wasn’t perfect, we were hurt by batting collapses and dropped catches, but luck smiled on us today.”Fortune eventually favored Sri Lanka, whose campaign has so far been plagued by rain outages, missed opportunities and inconsistent batting.Hasini Perera, who hit her maiden ODI half-century, scored 85 off 99 balls, including 13 fours and a six. She notched a total of 202 in Sri Lanka and reached the milestone of 1,000 ODI runs.A 74-run partnership with Nilakshika de Silva gave Sri Lanka a strong start, but another collapse saw six wickets fall for just 28 runs.Even so, the Sri Lankans held their nerve in the final to seal victory and climb to sixth in the table.They are level with New Zealand and India on four points, although they will need more results to secure the last semi-final spot. Australia, South Africa and England have already booked places in the last four.“We kept losing wickets at crucial moments,” admitted Bangladesh skipper Sultana, whose fighting 77 came in vain as her side were bowled out. “I tried to reduce the pressure with the boundary, but it just didn’t work.
