SL-W vs BAN-W

That'll be all then from this contest! A nail-biter that we did not see coming given that majority of the game just meandered along but that's why they say cricket is a sport of great uncertainties. Speaking of uncertainties, here's hoping for an uninterrupted contest in Colombo tomorrow as South Africa take on Pakistan. The first ball will be bowled at 3 PM IST - do join us earlier for our coverage right here on Sportskeeda. For the moment, this is the duo of Karthik Raj and Sooryanarayanan Sesha taking your leave. Wishing you a very Happy Diwali. Good night and take care!

Stepping away from Colombo at least took the weather out of the equation. And Sri Lanka will be stoked to bits after pulling off something remarkable to keep their semifinal hopes alive. For Bangladesh, this will hurt and pretty dearly so. They had no business losing this one but somehow, they've handed Sri Lanka the game to find themselves out of the reckoning for the semis. They have one more game left against India on Sunday and they will want to end their promising tournament on a high and play party-poopers.

Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka captain): Actually, we handled the pressure till the last over. As a captain, I know if we keep fighting, we have a chance. We dropped a few catches and made a lot of mistakes with our batting. Not our best game but we were lucky. We played four games in Sri Lanka but had two washouts and lost the other two. It is hard to adjust to the conditions due to the rain. But as a professional, you can't give excuses. One game left, we will try our best to win. If we make the semi-finals, it will be a miracle. After Vishmi (Gunaratne) got out, Hasini (Perera) and myself built a partnership. After I got out, we lost back-to-back wickets. We need to learn from Bangladesh how to bat in the middle overs. We have improve on our mistakes. You have to always play smart cricket. Definitely, she is a senior player. She scored her first fifty but she is a good player. I hope she will play well in the future as well. After every over, I talked to the bowlers. Asked them to keep it simple and execute the plans. The senior bowlers did really well. After (Nigar Sultana) Joty got out, the game was on our side. I have two choices, myself or Udeshika (Prabodhani). I talked to her and she asked me to bowl. Hopefully, if it doesn't rain, we can do something.

Nigar Sultana (Bangladesh captain): From the beginning I think it was our game. Me and Supta were batting very well before she went off with cramp. Shorna and I had a good partnership but we kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Playing three games like this, it's really heartbreaking. We've lost control with our planning and we kept losing wickets. We couldn't hold our nerve there. These kind of chases, we've been watching the others teams capitalize. Something I think we should think about. (On Shorna) She came in as the fifth or sixth bowler but the way she bowled was superb. (The fielding) In the World Cup you have to grab the opportunities. When we dropped those catches they were crucial moments. We are a very good fielding side but somehow we drop catches in crucial moments. It's a mental thing - this is the only thing we can improve on overnight. We need to work upon that. We have one game left - we'll definitely rectify our mistakes and look to end on a high. When we played a few games, we lost so many wickets in the powerplay and couldn't get runs. We couldn't play the full 50 overs either. So we thought if we don't give wickets in the powerplay, we can build in the middle and then score in the end. We had to finish it in the second last over. I didn't want to take the game to the last over. I was talking with my partner that we have to finish it in this (49th) over. I think we lost the game in the second last over definitely because we couldn't get runs. (On the last game against India) We really want to play our A game there. The way we played throughout the tournament, if we can play our best game and give our 110 per cent we can win.

Hasini Perera (Player of the Match): I just covered my off-stump a little more today to hit the balls outside-off. It's very important inning for me and my team as well. I am happy because of the win. Our team did really well, especially the bowlers who bowled the last few overs. The fielders were also superb. I just tried to hit a boundary but I should have finished the innings. If that happened, we could have got 30-40 more runs.

10:24 PM local time and IST: Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 7 runs for their first win of the tournament!

Hasini Perera 85 (99) | Chamari Athapaththu 4/42 (10)
Nigar Sultana 77 (98) | Shorna Akter 3/27 (10)

What just happened? Bangladesh had this in the bag all along. They were through. The writing was on the wall for Sri Lanka. But clearly, they didn't read that and took it upon themselves to erase that and write their own script. And of course, it just had to be Chamari Athapaththu to get the job done with the ball.

Bangladesh were in pursuit of 204 but started in laborious fashion, taking their usual approach of saving wickets before going big later on. They never really went big though even as their strike rotation got better towards the second half of the chase. But Fargana Hoque endured a torrid stay in the middle after Rubya Haider bagged a duck. The seamers kept things tight but with dew setting in, the spinners weren't effective enough.

Bangladesh continue to play a little too safe but Sharmin Akhter looked in good nick, raising a half-century and a solid partnership with skipper Nigar Sultana after the in-form Sobhana Mostary heaved a half-tracker down the throat of deep mid-wicket. The dot ball percentage was on the higher side but Nigar used her sweeps to great effect and took it upon herself to press on after Sharmin retired hurt with a serious case of cramp. Shorna Akter gave her captain company and the duo picked up singles at will with Nigar also finding the fence on a more regular basis.

Sri Lanka did not help themselves with an ordinary fielding display and their shoulders began to drop. But Athapaththu then rolled the dice one last time and took the ball herself, sending down three outstanding overs at the death while being ably backed up by her colleagues as they kept things tight. Ritu Moni walked in after Shorna's dismissal but endured a rather woeful stay, not kicking on when she had to and taking too much time to get her eye in. She was yorked in the penultimate over, which produced just three runs as Sugandika Kumari set things up for her captain.

And then, Athapaththu took charge, trapping Rabeya Khan plumb in front first ball before Nilakshi de Silva produced a sensational throw to run Nahida Akhter out. The next delivery landed the death knell as Nigar holed out for 77, before Sharmin Akhter returned to resume her innings. She did not bat until the last ball though as Athapaththu picked one more wicket as part of a team double hat-trick, paving the way for Sri Lanka to orchestrate a stunning jailbreak. And as a result, Bangladesh are officially the first team out of the tournament!

TAKE A BOW CHAMARI ATHAPATHTHU! Take a bow Sri Lanka! Down, but not out. But spare a thought for Nigar Sultana - she looks absolutely crestfallen in the dugout. She hasn't even removed her helmet as she buries her head in sheer agony of what has just unfolded. Oh sport!

49.6 Chamari Atapattu to Sharmin Akhter, CHAMARI ATHAPATHTHU WINS IT FOR SRI LANKA! Full and wide of off, Sharmin attempts to power it down the ground but she misses it. What a turnaround as Sri Lanka win by 7 runs.

49.5 Chamari Atapattu to Nishita Akter Nishi, full and turning in, Nishi dances down the track and swings it to the right of long-on. Single taken.

FOUR WICKETS IN THE OVER! Chamari Athapaththu - captain, leader, legend! The review was disallowed probably because Marufa ran out of time. But wow, for the second time in as many nights, we've seen a game turn around dramatically.

49.4 Chamari Atapattu to Marufa Akter, FOURTH WICKET IN THE OVER! CRAZY SCENES IN NAVI MUMBAI! Full on middle and leg, Marufa attempts to glance it fine but she misses it. LBW appeal and the umpire lifts her finger. Marufa has reviewed the decision though. Seems like the DRS was unavailable and Marufa is walking off. Actually, Marufa was too late to signal for the DRS.

A team hat-trick for Sri Lanka! Chamari Athapaththu you superstar! How on earth has this game changed? And surely, it's Sri Lanka's game to lose now.

49.3 Chamari Atapattu to Nigar Sultana, IN THE AIR AND TAKEN! TEAM HAT-TRICK FOR SRI LANKA! Full outside-off, Nigar tries to go big but she skies it to long-off where the fielder takes a simple catch. What is happening to Bangladesh here!