The Nepali youth team registered a thumping 97-run victory over Singapore in the ACC Men’s U-16 East Zone Cup cricket tournament to set up a final clash against hosts Malaysia on Monday.

Opting to bat first, Nepal posted 184-9 in the allotted 35 overs before bowling Singapore out for 87 runs in 31.3 overs at the Bayumas Oval in Pandamaran, in the semi-final. They will now play against Malaysia in the title decider on Tuesday.

Malaysia edged past Hong Kong by 77 runs in the other match during the day.

It will be the second meeting between Nepal and Malaysia in the tournament after the home team’s 84-run defeat in their group stage game on Friday.

Openers Suryanshu Koirala and Niraj Kumar Yadav gave a strong start to Nepal, posting a 63-run stand for the first wicket. Koirala was dismissed for 43 runs, the highest of the innings, after Riyan Naik caught him off a delivery by Harsh Venkatram. He struck six hits to the boundary.

Yadav contributed 42 runs off 49 balls, studded with three hits to boundary along with a six. Hariharan had him caught by Riaan Naik in the 17th over. Middle-order batter and captain Abhisekh Tiwari (25 runs off 21 balls), Pratik Bhattarai (12 runs off 29) and Dipu Kumar (not out 12 runs off 15) were the other major contributors for Nepal.

Singapore bowler Hariharan grabbed three wickets in his seven-over spell, conceding 31 runs. Harsha Venkatram and Kabir Berlia pocketed two wickets apiece.

Singapore made a sloppy start to their run chase and lost wickets at quick intervals. Opener Roshan Ravichandran scored 24 runs off 27 balls, the highest of the innings, before he got run out with 45-2 on board. They lost their remaining eight wickets adding only 42 runs.

Lower middle order batter Pranav Dhanuka (not out 14 runs off 17 balls) and Kabir Berlia (11 runs off 15) were the only other batters to touch double-digit scores for Singapore.

Kritik Kamat was the pick of Nepal’s bowling, claiming three wickets. The player-of-the-match gave away nine runs in his 2.3 overs spell that included a maiden over. Captain Tiwari, Pratik Pokharel, Santosh Yadav, Ashok Dhami and Naren all shared a wicket each.