SL pull off a heist after Bangladesh collapse in magnificent fashion

A tournament lacking in genuine tight finishes has now produced two in two days, as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka played out a low-scoring thriller in Navi Mumbai. But in truth this game should have never got to that stage, as Bangladesh nursed their chase of 203 only to stumble at the last and fall to a seven-run defeat. The result means, Bangladesh are eliminated from semi-final contention, while Sri Lanka live to fight another day.

This was a chase that Sri Lanka were behind for around 48 overs, but in a tantalising final dash they picked up five wickets and gave away two runs off the final nine deliveries, as Bangladesh were unable to close out a game that they had controlled for large parts.

The final scorecard will read that Chamari Athapaththu picked up figures of 4 for 42, but three of those came in a game-stealing final over, where Bangladesh lost four wickets off the first four deliveries - a run-out in the middle ensuring it wasn't an Athapaththu hat-trick.

Up until then Nigar Sultana had anchored the chase, if not expertly then at least safely. Her 77 off 98 came mostly as part of two major partnerships - the first 82 off 120 with Sharmin Akhter and the second 50 off 58 with Shorna Akter - during which Sri Lanka were like passengers aboard a rudderless ship, just merely on for the ride.

To stick with the analogy, this was not a ship moving particularly swiftly. With a pretty chaseable target of 203 on the board, Bangladesh were guilty of being overly cautious - perhaps bearing in mind their poor batting efforts earlier in the tournament - as they inched along.

On a pitch, not offering much for the many spinners they picked, Sri Lanka were resigned to simply keeping things tight, unable to really impose themselves on the game with the ball until the dying moments when everything seemed to happen all at once.

Earlier however, it was Sri Lanka who had been slowed to a crawl, after a stunning mid-innings collapse had halted them. Hasini Perera struck a maiden international fifty in her 143rd match, a shining light (85 off 99) in and otherwise disjointed batting effort and was one of only three batters - Athapaththu (46) and Nilakshika Silva (37) the other two - to reach double-digits.

Both Athapaththu and Hasini brought up milestones - 4000 and 1000 ODI runs, respectively - during their knock as well, while Hasini was eventually named Player of the Match.

Shorna once more proved decisive - despite only being introduced at the halfway point of the innings - as she picked up figures of 3 for 27, including the crucial wickets of both Hasini and Nilakshika. The rest of the wickets were spread out, with only Ritu Moni going wicketless.

Bangladesh were sloppy in the field, missing several chances, including run-outs and stumpings, but they were also spot on with their reviews. Despite this, Sri Lanka had at several points been on the up - in control, even. There was the 72-run stand between Athapaththu and Hasini after the fall of that first wicket, which had Sri Lanka romping along at nearly run-a-ball.

On a wicket with few demons, Athapaththu's 46 off 43 included six fours and two sixes. For the most part she looked unfazed by what Bangladesh threw at her so when she was trapped lbw by one that snuck past her forward defence, it was against the run of play.

After this point Sri Lanka were both unfortunate and architects of their own demise. A fledgling partnership of 15 between Harshitha Samarawickrama and Hasini was brought to an end after the former called for a non-existent second run and found herself a metre short.

If that was self-inflicted, the next wicket was pure unadulterated bad luck. Kavisha Dilhari chopped an attempted cut into the ground, as the ball promptly bounced past the stumps, struck keeper Sultana, and bobbled on to the stumps. Bangladesh went about their business after this, the fielders even getting back into their positions, but the third umpire was alert and used the Smart Replay system in effect at this tournament to inform the on-field umpires of a possible stumping.

And as it turned out, Dilhari's back foot had momentarily lifted off the ground as she searched for balance. It was in that moment the bails had lit up - a fitting tribute to the Diwali celebrations around the stadium.

As Bangladesh celebrated wildly, Sri Lanka had suddenly stumbled from 72 for 1 to 100 for 4, a worrying blip with them being a batter light after replacing allrounder Piumi Wathsala with seamer Udeshika Prabodani. Thankfully for the Lankans, in Hasini and Nilakshika they had the exact counterattacking pair the occasion called for.

Together they strung a 74-run stand off just 75 deliveries. It was a period in which batting seemed the easiest, with both players finding boundaries with regularity. If there was one criticism - and this would be one across Sri Lanka's innings - it would be their lack of strike rotation.

Despite the pair hitting nine boundaries (including three sixes) across their partnership lasting a shade over 12 overs, they were unable to usher in a run rate above six an over. This was a problem that would plague Bangladesh's innings as well, later on.

Perhaps it was their awareness of the lack of batting to follow that kept them in check, but it was unusual to see so many tossed up deliveries of spin dead-batted away. As it transpired, Nilakshika's innings came to an end prematurely, as she shanked an on-side heave off Shorna to short third.

This wicket proved to be a catalyst for Sri Lanka's most devastating collapse, losing their next three wickets for just eight runs - Shorna getting two of them.

From then on, Sri Lanka's innings slowed to a trickle as they sought to bat time, before eventually being bowled out with eight deliveries remaining. Their final 103 balls saw 28 runs scored and six wickets fall, a feat somehow surpassed by Bangladesh.