Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal advanced to the semifinals of the ACC Men’s Premier Cup 2026 with a five-wicket win over Saudi Arabia in Malaysia on Sunday.
Batting first after winning the toss at the Bayuemas Oval in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia were bowled out for 190 with four balls remaining in their innings. Chasing a target of 191, Nepal reached 193 for five in 41 overs.
Gulshan Jha top-scored for Nepal with an unbeaten 44. Ishan Pandey contributed 40 off 59 balls, while Dev Khanal scored 39 and Rohit Kumar Paudel remained unbeaten on 24. Openers Aasif Sheikh and Arjun Kumal contributed 20 and 15 runs, respectively.
Earlier, opener Abdul Waheed scored the highest 77 runs for Saudi Arabia. Muhammad Atif scored 30, while Mohammad Hisham Sheikh contributed 28.
Sandeep Lamichhane and Dipendra Singh Airee took three wickets each for Nepal, while Lalit Rajbanshi claimed two, and Sher Malla and Gulshan Jha chipped in with a wicket each.
Nepal earlier registered comfortable wins over Bahrain and Malaysia to top Group A.
The rhinos will play their last group stage match against Hong Kong on Tuesday.
The ACC Men’s Premier Cup features 10 teams divided into two groups of five teams each. Nepal is in Group A together with Bahrain, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and hosts Malaysia.
Similarly, Group B features Oman, Singapore, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE.
The winner of the ACC Men’s Premier Cup directly qualifies for the 2027 Men’s Asia Cup to be hosted by Bangladesh.
