Bangladesh Under-23 coasted to an eight-wicket win over Nepal in their Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup match at Savar City in Bangladesh on Monday.

After skittling out Nepal for 138, the hosts raced to a comfortable victory in the 24th over. Soumya Sarkar (11) was the first of only two Bangladeshi wickets to fall, as the regular in Bangladesh's Test side was caught by Sundeep Jora off Karan KC in the fifth over.

From 34-1, Naim Sheikh and Nazmul Shanto added 79 runs for the second wicket. Sheikh hit six fours on his way to 45 playing 56 balls before being caught by Dipendra Singh Airee off Sushan Bhari. But by that time Bangladesh were comfortably placed at 113-2.

Yasir Ali Chowdhury joined in Shanto as the two steered Bangladesh home. Shanto hit two sixes and six fours and remained unbeaten on 59 runs, and Chowdhury scored 18 as Bangladesh achieved the target with 26 overs to spare.

Earlier, Nepal were bowled out for a paltry 138 runs in 44.3 overs. Despite a composed start to their innings, three quick wickets forced them to backfoot. Kushal Bhurtel (10) was the first wicket to fall with 33 runs on the board.

Skipper Gyanendra Malla, who has had a tournament to forget with two successive ducks against India U-23 and Hong Kong, finally regain some confidence hitting four fours. But he could not carry on for long as he was caught by Mahedi Hasan off Sumon Khan for 22 runs to leave Nepal at 34-2 in the ninth over.

The visitors lost another wicket in the form of Sharad Vesawkar (1) after adding one run to the total.

Languishing at 35-3, and the middle order failed to click once again as Nepal lost wickets at regular intervals to find themselves in deep trouble at 85-8 by the 28th over. It was only because of some gutsy batting from Sompal Kami and Karan KC (18), adding 50 runs for the ninth wicket, that saw Nepal cross the 100 mark. Kami, who top-scored with 38, was the last wicket to fall as Nepal were bundled out for 138 runs in the 45th over.

Sumon Khan and Syed Abedin were the pick of the Bangladeshi bowlers, grabbing three wickets each. Tanvir Islam and Hasan had two each to their names.

Nepal, who had lost to India U-23 by seven wickets in their opening match, bounced back to a 40-run win against Hong Kong in their second league outing in the tournament.

But Monday’s defeat sealed their fate in the competition as they finished third in Group 'B' with just two points. Bangladesh qualified on top of the table with a perfect record in three matches with India joining them with four points. Hong Kong failed to win a single match and finished at the bottom of the pile.

Pakistan U-23 advanced to the last four as the Group 'A' winners with six points, while Afghanistan joined them with two wins. Oman finished third, and Sri Lanka fourth in the group.

Pakistan play their arch-rivals India in the first semifinal on Wednesday, while Bangladesh take on Afghanistan in the second on Thursday. The final is on Saturday.