Kathmandu, August 22 :

Nepal advanced to the semi-final of the sixth ACC Trophy after a 25-run win over Bahrain at the Bayuemas Oval Grounds in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Nepal will meet three-time champions United Arab Emmirates (UAE) at the Kinrara Ground on Thursday.

Nepal defended the modest total of 200/9 by restricting Bahrain to 175/9. Nepal had a disastrous start batting first. They lost opener Paresh Lohani (4) at six runs on board and soon Sarad Vesawkar (2) followed him at 22 runs on board.

Gyanendra Malla (57)and Shakti Gauchan then restored the Nepali innings putting on 76-run stand.

Reliable-man Shakti Gauchan made 49 off 99 balls.

Man of the match Basanta Regmi and Manoj Baisya contributed valuable 21 runs each later in the innings while skipper Binod Das added 16 runs to the total. Qamar Saeed was the most successful bowler for Bahrain. He finished 4-35 in 10 overs while Syafeeq Ahmed and Tahir Dar shared two wickets each. Asgar Abdul Majeed took the other.

Paceman Mehboob Alam, who starred with a seven-wicket haul against Myanmar on Sunday, gave Nepal a dream start defending the total. He dismissed opening batsman M A Mughal for duck when Bahrain was yet to score. Immediately after Bahrain opened its account with one run, Das struck again.

A Waheed and A Majeed then consolidated the Bahrain innings before their 63-run stand was broken. Nepal seized the moment and bounced back strongly taking five more wickets for just 31 runs. T Das threatened Nepal scoring unbeaten 57 off 59 balls — a 76-run stand with G Desilva (23) — but by then it was already too late. They could only score 175 runs in their allotted 50 overs.

Basanta Regmi took three wickets conceding 23 runs off 10 overs for Nepal while Das and Paras Khadka claimed two wickets each. Alam and Raj Kumar Pradhan took one each.