Nepal youth team openers Deepak Bohara and Arjun Kumal remained unbeaten as they trounced Malaysia by 10 wickets to secure their fourth victory in a row in the Asia Regional Qualifier for the ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday.

The winning streak of the tournament in the penultimate match puts Nepal close to realising their World Cup dreams for the first time since 2016. Nepal will play against the UAE on Thursday in a decisive fixture for sending the team to the global showpiece in Sri Lanka next year.

Like Nepal, hosts UAE, who recorded a convincing eight-wicket win over Kuwait on Tuesday, have also clinched victories in all four matches. They sit on top of the table on net run rate despite being tied on an equal eight points with Nepal. The winner among them will book a ticket for the U-19 World Cup as only the table topper will be assured of a spot for the global showpiece.

Opting to bat first, Malaysia were bowled out for 72 runs in 35.3 overs at the Malek Cricket Ground after Dipesh Kandel grabbed four wickets. Muhammad Akram Malek was the highest scorer for Malaysia, contributing a 51-ball 26.

Openers Mohammad Hairil Harisan and Muhammad Syahir Syamael, who both contributed 12 runs each, were the other batters to reach double-digit scores.

Nepal’s slow left arm orthodox bowler Kandel returned with economical figures of 10-4-11-4 while Akash Chand grabbed three wickets. Chand gave away nine runs in his 4.3-over spell. Milan Bohara claimed two scalps and Subash Bhandari one.

Chasing the target, Nepal had a cakewalk as openers Bohara and Kumal paired to surpass the target in nine overs. Bohara scored 38 runs off 29 balls that included eight hits to the fence. Kumal scored a 25-ball 21 that included three hits to boundary.