Hosts Nepal made a dream start to their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier campaign with an eight-wicket victory over Singapore at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, Kathmandu on Monday.

Kushal Bhurtel scored a blistering 74 off 48 balls and put on an 84-run opening stand with Aasif Sheikh (27) before partnering with captain Rohit Paudel (not out 35) to chase down Singapore’s total of 145-9 in 16.3 overs.

It was Bhurtel’s seventh career T20I half-century. He smacked eight fours and two sixes against Singapore.

Akshay Puri removed Aasif in the 10th over but Paudel continued the momentum sharing a 57-run partnership with Bhurtel for the second wicket.

Nepal needed only four runs to complete the chase but Bhurtel fell to Anantha Krishna in the 16.2 overs when he holed out to the long-off for a six where Thilip Thilappan took the catch.

Malla came next and finished off the game in style smacking six off Krishna in the next ball.

Earlier, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane and Gulsan Jha shared six wickets between them to rattle the Singapore batting order before Abinash Bohara picked three to restrict the opponents to 145-9 after Nepal were sent to field first.

KC struck in the first ball of the innings surprising captain Aritra Dutta but Rohan Rangarajan scored 46 off 30 balls to keep the run flowing.

Lamichhane removed Surendran Chandramohan for six in the seventh over before Jha finally had Rangarajan caught by Sundeep Jora in the eighth over. Jha then sent back Amartya Kaul four balls later to put Singapore in trouble at 54-4.

But Manpreet Singh added 24 and debutant Aryaveer Chaudhary scored 37 to keep up the fight and guide Singapore to a decent total.

Janak Prakash was trapped lbw by Lamichhane for seven before Bohara did what he was brought for, cleaning up the tail including the scalp of Chaudhary.

Nepal play Malaysia in their second Group A match on Tuesday.

In the other Group A match, Oman beat Malaysia by 32 runs at Mulpani Cricket Ground. Zeeshan Maqsood scored an unbeaten 56 to help Oman post 153-6. In reply, Malaysia’s Virandeep Singh hit not out 57 off 53 balls but fell short in the chase as they were restricted to 121-8.

In Group B, the United Arab Emirates defeated Bahrain by five wickets at Kirtipur. Bahrain’s Haider Butt scored an unbeaten half-century to guide his side to 135-6 before number six batter Ali Naseer’s explosive knock of 26-ball 48 helped the UAE chase the target.

Hong Kong secured a 16-run win over Kuwait. Martin Coetzee shone for Hong Kong scoring 81 off 48 balls to post 166-6. Kuwait captain Mohammed Aslam scored a half-century but his side could only manage 150-8.

The top two teams in each group will progress into the high-stakes semi-finals and the two finalists will book their place in the 2024 T20 World Cup.