ACC Premier Cup: Nepal register a 6-wicket win over Malaysia

KATHMANDU: Nepal is off to a winning start in the ACC Premier Cup, that began today in the capital.

Nepal defeated Malaysia by 6 wickets in the first match of Group ‘A’ of the ACC Premier Cup. Nepal achieved Malaysia’s target of 236 runs by losing four wickets in two overs of 36 balls. Nepal had half-centuries from Kushal Malla and Bhim Sarki.

Malla hit an unbeaten 70 off 40 balls, including five fours and five sixes. Bhim scored 71 runs off 97 balls, including 5 fours. Bhim and Malla shared 112 runs for the fourth wicket.

Captain Rohit Kumar Paudel scored 42 runs while opener Kushal Bhurtel scored 38 runs.

For Malaysia, Vijay Unni, Virandeep Singh, Muhammad Wafiq and Rizwan Haider took 1/1 wicket each.

Before that, Malaysia, who won the toss and batted first, scored 235 runs after losing 9 wickets in 50 overs.

Ahmad Faiz contributed the most 76 runs for Malaysia. He hit 8 fours and 1 six off 95 balls. Mohammad Amir was dismissed for 17 runs, while Virandeep Singh scored 46 runs. Faiz and Singh put on a century partnership of 116 runs for the second wicket.

Sandeep Lamichhane broke the century partnership in 33 10 overs. Ahmed Faiz’s wicket ended the partnership. When Vijay Unni was out for 12, Aziz most likely scored 13 runs. Khizar Hayat scored 22 runs and Sajrul Idras hit 15 unbroken runs. Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane, on the other hand, got three wickets each for Nepal. Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took two wickets, while Gulsan Jha took one.

Nepal leads Group A with two points out of the ten competing countries. Nepal’s next match is against Oman on April 21.