The young Rhinos progressed to the final of the ACC Men’s U19 Premier Cup after a dominant victory over Malaysia in the semifinal played in Ajman, UAE, on Saturday. They will face the hosts, the UAE, who defeated Oman in the other semifinal, for the title on December 1.

Bowling first, Nepal had Malaysia bundled out for a paltry 51 runs in 17.2 overs.

Nitesh Kumar Patel sent two Malaysian batters back to the pavilion in the very first over, while Roshan Bishwakarma took the tenth wicket of Malaysia in the 18th over.

Malaysia would have been restricted to a fewer total had it not been for the two lower order batsmen—Muhammad Fathul Muin (11 off 23) and Hamzah Panggi (13 off 20)—rescuing the team from misery. Muin was the ninth wicket that fell for Malaysia after being struck leg before in the spell of Aprajit Poudel, while Panggi was the last to depart.

Patel took four wickets in total and Chandan Bam bagged three. Poudel, Bishwakarma and Ashok Dhami picked one each as none of the other Malaysian batsmen scored in double figures.

Nepali bowlers conceded only six fours and no maximum. In turn, Nepali batters also hit the same number of boundaries, but had the target chased in 7.5 overs, with nine wickets in hand.

Opener Niraj Kumar Yadav departed early at 4 off 3 in the third ball of the first over. Vansh Chhetri (23 off 27) and Nischal Kshetri (15 off 18) were the ones who completed the chase.