Nepal cruise into semis at ACC Premier Cup

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Apr. 25: Nepal cruised into the semi-finals of the ACC Men's Premier Cup after the match against Saudi Arabia at Mulpani Cricket Ground was cancelled due to torrential rain on Monday.

Though the Nepali national team’s debut at Mulpani Cricket Stadium was washed out, the host cruised to the knockout round sharing point with Saudi Arabia.  The match was called off without a ball being bowled at Mulpani. Nepal earned five points from three matches to the top Group A table. 

Similarly, Oman trails in second place with four points from three matches. Saudi Arabia is in third place with three points and Malaysia is in fourth place with two points. Similarly, Qatar is at the bottom of the table with zero points from two matches.

Nepal will take Qatar in its last match of the group stage at TU Cricket Ground on Thursday. It will decide the winner and runner-up of Group A.

Earlier, Nepal made a winning start beating Malaysia by six wickets and registered a second victory by thrashing Oman by 84 runs.

Hong Kong, Bahrain share point

The rain at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur also washed out the match between Hong Kong and Bahrain without a ball being bowled. 

Hong Kong and Bahrain also shared one point each. Hong Kong climbed to the top of Group B with five points from three matches. The UAE is in second place with four points. Bahrain follows with three points at the third spot. Kuwait sits in fourth position with two points from two matches. Singapore, which remains at the bottom place, is out of contention.  

The winner of the ACC Men's Premier Cup will qualify for Men's Asia Cup 2023 while the runner-up and third place will qualify for the Men's Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023.