Hosts Nepal and the Netherlands were assured of final spots in the Tri-Nation Twenty20 International Series after Malaysia and the Dutch side's rain affected group match was tied at the TU cricket ground, Kirtipur on Wednesday.

In a match halted twice by the rain, Malaysia managed to score 91-4, chasing a revised target of 92 runs as per the Duckworth-Lewis system. Earlier, put into bat first, the Netherlands scored 107-4 in 13 overs after the match was first interrupted in 10.2 overs with 68-3 on board. Following the rainfall, the game was reduced to 13 overs.

Chasing the target, Malaysian side seemed to be in a strong position as they raced to 56 without losing a single wicket before the rain interrupted the game at the end of the sixth over. Malaysia were then set a revised target of 92 runs at 10 overs.

Malaysia lost four wickets for 33 runs and managed only six runs in the last over when they required seven from six balls. Vivian Kingma trapped Aminuddin Ramly leg before in the penultimate delivery of the 10th over when Malaysia required two runs from as many balls. In the last ball, he gave away just one run to Sharvin Muniandy as the match got tied. The match did not go into Super Over as the cut off time had already passed.

The outcome means the Netherlands, who had lost and won one match each against Nepal and defeated Malaysia by 15 runs in the first leg, moved on top of the standings with five points after playing all four group matches. Hosts Nepal are behind with four points with a match yet to play against Malaysia. Nepal had defeated the Netherlands and Malaysia in the first leg match before going down to the Dutch team in their second game. Malaysia, yet to taste a victory, are third with one point.

Earlier, Ben Cooper cracked an unbeaten half-century for the Netherlands after they lost three wickets, including openers, cheaply for 22 runs on board. Openers Vikramjit Singh and Tobias Vise were out for one and duck respectively while Bas de Leede, who came to bat at number 4, also departed without scoring.

But Cooper lifted the innings scoring not out 54 runs. He hit seven boundaries and two sixes in his 32-ball knock. Captain Pieter Seelar was the other major contributor scoring 37 off 31 that included five boundaries. Antonius Staal scored an unbeaten 10 runs off five deliveries.

Malaysian bowler Muhammad Wafiq claimed two wickets while Pavandeep Singh and Virandeep Sing pocketed one wicket each. Wafiq gave away 13 runs in his three-over spell.

In the run chase, openers Syed Aziz scored 30 runs off 26 balls that included two boundaries and two sixes and Anwar Arudin made 23 runs as the duo shared a 57-run stand for the first wicket. Arudin hit two fences and a six in 17-ball knock.

Virandeep Sing played a quickfire 14 runs off six deliveries while Aminuddin Ramly contributed nine runs. Shafiq Sharit was not out for three runs.

The Netherlands Sebastiaan Braat grabbed two wickets while De Leede and Kingma pocketed one each. Braat conceded 14 runs in his two-over spell.

Nepal will play Malaysia in their last group stage match at the same venue on Thursday, and will top the table if they win the dead rubber match.

The final will take place on Saturday.