Nepal national men’s U-19 cricket team moved a step closer to securing their spot in the 2023 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup after they thrashed Saudi Arabia by 302 runs at the YSD UKM Oval in Bangi, Malaysia to reach the semi-finals of the ACC Men’s U-19 Premier Cup on Thursday.

Arjun Kumal scored a century and Aakash Tripathi contributed 89 runs off 98 balls to help Nepal post a massive 347 total at the loss of eight wickets in the alloted 50 overs.

In response, Saudi Arabia were bowled out for just 46 runs in 19.1 overs after bowler Dipesh Kandel continued his impressive spell taking a six-wicket haul for the second match in a row.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, opener Kumal smashed 17 fours and two sixes in his explosive 111-ball 142 and put on a 189-run stand with Tripathi for the second wicket.

Opener Deepak Bohara made 29, wicketkeeper Dipak Prasad Dumre and Dipesh Kandel each added 14 and Bishal Bikram KC played 24 not out.

Muhammad Ahmad Raza, Muhammad Ghayour Ahmad and Abdullah Shiraz took wickets each for Saudi Arabia.

The huge total was already too much to handle for Saudi Arabia and spinner Kandel took 6-14 to rip apart their batting order to guide Nepal U-19 to a big victory.

Aakash Chand pocketed two wickets and Subash Bhandari bagged one for Nepal.

Nepal progressed as Group A winners with three wins in as many matches.

The United Arab Emirates and Singapore also advanced into the last four after winning Group B and Group C respectively.

A total of 16 teams—divided into four groups—are competing in the third edition of the U-19 Asia Cup qualifying event.

The top three teams of the tournament will join five full members of the Asian Cricket Council, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, at the 2023 ACC men’s U-19 Asia Cup finals, which is scheduled to be held in Pakistan in December.

Nepal national U-19 team have already qualified for the 2024 Cricket World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka on January 13-February 4 next year.