Nepal enter ACC Premier Cup semis

KATHMANDU: Nepal defeated Saudi Arabia by six wickets in their last game of the group stage under the ACC Premier Cup Cricket on Wednesday.

With this win, Nepal entered the semi-finals, remaining unbeaten in the group stage matches.

The match held at Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman today was reduced to eight from 20 overs after rain played spoilsport.

Saudi Arabia, who were invited to bat first after losing the toss, posted a target of 74 runs losing seven wickets in the allotted eight overs. Nepal achieved the target in 7.2 overs, losing four wickets.

Gulshan Jha collected 32 runs unbeaten for Nepal. He hit two sixes and two fours off 19 balls. Dipendra Singh Airee made 17 runs and skipper Rohit Paudel 16.

Ishtiaq Ahmed took two wickets for Saudi Arabia while Usman Najeeb and Wazi Ul Hasan took one wicket each.

Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Waheed scored highest 37 runs of 16 balls, hitting three boundaries and three fours. Other Saudi batters could not make runs in the double digit.

For Nepal, Karan KC and Abinash Bohara each took two wickets while Pratis GC and Llait Rajbanshi took one wicket each.

Nepal, who were placed in Group ‘A’, had defeated Malaysia by five wickets in the first match, Qatar by 32 runs in the second match and Hong Kong by eight wickets in the third match.