Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal made a winning start in the ACC Men’s U-16 Eastern Region Cricket Tournament by defeating Singapore by six wickets on Sunday.
Fielding first at the UKM Oval in Malaysia, Nepal restricted Singapore to 138 runs in 36.1 overs. Nepal achieved the target of 139 runs, losing four wickets in 33.3 overs.
Captain Riyan Nayak scored 53 runs for Singapore, Aahan Vuthandam contributed 38 and Roshan Austin Arun added 11. Other Singapore batters failed to make a meaningful contribution.
Captain Bipin Sharma claimed four wickets for Nepal, while Sachin Bhatta secured three. Shubham Khanal and Abhaya Yadav had a wicket each to their names.
Opener Prasiddha Jaisi scored an unbeaten 55 of 97 balls to script Nepal’s chase. Although fellow opener Suryanshu Koirala (retired hurt) and wicketkeeper Shiwansh Bajgain (9) failed to contribute with the bat, Jaisi found support from Raunak Srivastav, who scored 40 off 44 balls. Shubham Khanal remained not out at 9.
Akash Teja took three wickets for Singapore, while Yuvaan Pandey claimed one.
Nepal will play its next match against Japan on Tuesday.
A total of 10 teams are participating in the competition. Nepal is in Group A, which also includes Singapore, Japan, Bhutan and Indonesia. Similarly, Group B consists of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar and Thailand.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the semifinal, with the group topper facing the runner-up of the opposite group.
