Spinners wreaked havoc as Nepal got off to a flying start to the ACC U-19 Premier with a 149-run victory over United Arab Emirates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday.

Electing to bat first at the Bayuemas Oval, skipper Raju Rijal anchored the Nepali innings with a half century that saw his team post 199 all out in 49.2 overs.

The UAE got a modest start adding 34 runs inside eight before Nepali spinners took control of the game bundling the opponents out for 50 runs in 20.5 overs.

Openers Waruna Perera and Zafri Zafardeen (12) began with a 34-run opening wicket stand before Sushil Kandel triggered a collapse with the dismissal of the latter. Sunil Dhamala and Kandel then ripped through the UAE top and middle order sharing six more wickets between them.

Perera top scored for the UAE with a 38-ball 32 before he was trapped leg before by Dhamala. Man-of-the-match Kandel bowled an outstanding spell of 4-7 off seven overs, while Dhamala took 3-12. Prem Tamang polished off the tail with two wickets out of the five deliveries he bowled.

Earlier, Nepal lost opener Dhamala early before Aarif Sheikh and Sandeep Sunar (18) shared 39 runs for the second wicket. Nepal then went on to lose next four wickets for just 25 runs with the dismissal of Sunar, Sheikh, Rajbir Singh (five) and Yogendra Karki (two). Sheikh made 22 off 43 balls.

Rijal stepped in and was involved in two half century stand, pushing the score towards a respectable total. The captain shared 52 runs each with Dipendra Airee (20) for the sixth and Saurav Khanal for the seventh wickets before losing his wicket in the 46th over.

Rijal scored 62 off 84 balls with six fours and a six. Zafardeen took 3-42 for the UAE with Ahsan Ali Khan and Abdullah Asif also picking up two wickets each.

Nepal next play Afghanistan, who hammered Kuwait by eight wickets on Saturday. Kuwait were 104 all out in 49.3 overs before the defending champions reached 105-2 in 15.4 overs.

Also in another game, hosts Malaysia trounced Saudi Arabia by 181 runs after amassing 286-5 in 50 overs.