Nepal has made a flying start by registering a five-wicket win over Malaysia in the group stage match under the ACC Premier Cup.
Chasing the 144-run target set by Malaysia, Nepal reached it in 19.3 overs losing five wickets. Aasif Sheikh topped the score with 32 runs including four fours off 35 deliveries followed by capitan Rohit Paudel with 28 runs while Kushal Bhurtel smashed 24 runs.
Similarly, Dipendra Singh Airee and Gulsan Jha contributed 20 and 19 runs, respectively.
In reply, Virandeep Singh took the highest 3 wickets giving away 35 runs while Muhammad Wafiq and Pavandeep Singh grabbed one wicket each for Malaysia.
Earlier, electing to bat first against Nepal after winning the toss at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman, Malaysia notched up 143 runs losing 3 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Captain Virandeep Singh topped the score with 72 runs including four fours and four sixes off 57 runs followed by Sharvin Muniandy with 41 runs while Muhammad Amir contributed 16 runs.
The other batsmen could not achieve significant runs.
On the bowling side, Dipendra Singh Airee took 2 wickets giving away 14 runs while Abinash Bohara claimed 1 wicket for Nepal.
The Nepali team reached Oman on Wednesday to participate in the ACC Premier Cup after winning the title of the SMS Cup Tri-Series held in Gujarat, India.
Nepal had won two matches held with Ireland 'A' in the home ground before reaching Gujarat.
Nepal will play the next match with Qatar on April 13, third match with Hong Kong on April 15, and the final match of the group stage match with Saudi Arabia on April 17.
Nepal is in Group A alongside Hong Kong, Malaysia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Similarly, Group B has UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Cambodia including host Oman.
Top two teams of each group will book berth in the semi-finals scheduled for April 19.
While the winners of the semi-finals will reach the finals, the losers lock horns for the third place on April 20.
The final match will be held on April 21. The winner will book berth in the ACC Asia Cup.
Nepali cricket squad
Rohit Paudel (captain), Aasif Sheikh, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Bibek Yadav, Sundeep Jora, Anil Sah, Gulshan Jha, Deependra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Pratish GC and Abinash Bohara.
