Sri Lanka snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to claim their first win of the Women’s World Cup, edging out Bangladesh by seven runs in a thrilling finish in Navi Mumbai on Monday. With Bangladesh cruising—needing just nine runs off the final over with five wickets in hand and having scored only three off the penultimate over—skipper Chamari Athapaththu took the ball herself and completely turned the game around.Four wickets fell in four balls as Bangladesh collapsed, losing five wickets for just two runs.Athapaththu, calm under pressure, finished with career-best figures of 4-42.The drama began with Rabeya Khan trapped leg before wicket on the first delivery, followed immediately by a run-out.Bangladesh’s hopes took another blow when captain Nigar Sultana advanced down the track only to be caught at long-off.When Marufa Akter was adjudged lbw on the next ball, Athapaththu had achieved the unthinkable, defending 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 crumble,” Athapaththu said. “It wasn’t perfect, batting collapses and dropped catches hurt us, but luck smiled at us today.”Fortune finally favoured Sri Lanka, whose campaign had so far been plagued by rain interruptions, missed opportunities, and inconsistent batting.Hasini Perera, who struck her maiden ODI half-century, scored 85 off 99 balls, including 13 fours and a six. She anchored Sri Lanka’s total of 202 all out 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 overs to seal the win and climb to sixth in the standings.With four points, they are level with New Zealand and India, though they will need other results to go their way 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 times,” admitted Bangladesh skipper Sultana, whose fighting 77 went in vain as her side were eliminated. “I tried to take the pressure off with a boundary, but it just didn’t come off.”
