Kathmandu, July 2

Pawan Chandel scored a brilliant century as Nepal Storm defeated Dubai Warriors by three wickets and advanced to the final of the Asian Club Premier League here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.

In the Qualifier2 match, Warriors scored 183-9 in their allotted 20 overs after put into bat first and Storm reached 187-7 with two balls to spare. Storm, who lost to Sri Lankan Lions in the Qualifier1 yesterday, will face the same opponents in a rematch in Tuesday’s final.

While Storm had finished at the top of the table, Lions were second. Dubai Warriors had defeated Bangladesh Tigers in the Eliminator match on Saturday. Warriors will face the Tigers in third-place playoff match on Monday, while the loser of that match will take on Afghanistan Bulls for a fourth place. Indian Stars will play against the fourth-place playoff losers in a match to decide the fifth place.

On Sunday, Chandel scored an unbeaten 62-ball 120 to guide Storm into the final. Jitendra Sharma contributed 10-ball 16, while Amar Singh (14) and Ashish Bisht (12) also scored in double figures. Warriors’ Amit Kumar (2-17) and Ali Malik (2-36) shared four wickets between them, while Orminder Singh, Satish Kumar and Vijay Yadav took one wicket apiece.

Earlier, Warriors posted a fighting total riding on Dawood Ejaz’s 30-ball 54 and Amit Kumar’s 14-ball 37. Abdul Shakoor hit 32 off just 13 balls. Malwinder Singh (3-27) was the pick of the Storm bowlers, while Ashish Bisht took 2-39. Jitendra Sharma, Gaurav Barabade and Dishant Yadav pocketed one wicket apiece.