Aarif Sheikh bowled Nepal to a convincing eight-wicket win over hosts Malaysia during the ACC Under-19  Premier at the Bayuemas Oval grounds in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

The victory comes as a soothing relief for the young guns after suffering a heavy 10-wicket loss to Afghanistan on Saturday. The victory also kept Nepal’s stranglehold on Malaysia, winning 11 of the 12 matches played between the two sides at various U-19 tournaments. Nepal’s only loss against the opponent came last year in Kuwait at the same event where they succumbed to a 52-run defeat.

The win lifts Nepal to second in the points table with four points. The  emerging South Asian cricketing giants Afghanistan stay at the top with maximum  six points from three matches.

Electing to bat first, Malaysia were bundled out for 75 runs in  38 overs with medium pacer Sheikh being their chief tormentor. Sheikh returned with enviable figures of 4-18 off 10 overs. Nepal replied with 77-2 in 44.4 overs.

Disciplined Nepali bowling made life hard for the home team as only three  batsmen—Pavandeep Singh (17), Sankar Sathish (13) and Vimalan Palaniandy  (12)—were able to score runs in double figure. Sheikh’s new-ball partner Dipesh Shrestha (2-28) and medium pacer Dipendra  Singh Airee (2-11) also bowled tight spells.

In reply, Nepal lost opener Sunil Dhamala (3) at 11-1 in the second over  but Ashish Dhami and Rajbir Singh added 62 runs for the  second wicket to pave easy win for Nepal. With just three runs away from  victory, Singh lost his wicket for 33. Singh struck five fours in his  fluent 38-ball stay at the crease. Dhami completed the formality by scoring the required runs to remain not  out on 38 runs. His 40-ball knock included six hits to the fence. Pavandeep  Singh and Syed Aziz claimed one wicket each for Malaysia.

Nepal play their next game against Kuwait at the Kinrara Oval grounds on  Tuesday.

In other matches of the day, Afghanistan hammered the United Arab Emirates  (UAE) by 10 wickets and Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by 124 runs.

At the Kinrara Oval, Tariq completed a five-wicket haul as  Afghanistan bowled the UAE for 88 runs in 30.5 overs. Afghan openers  Hazratullah and Nasir Khan both scored unbeaten 41 runs to surpass  the target in 12.5 overs. The same pair had inflicted Nepal a  10-wicket defeat on Saturday.

At the Kelab Aman grounds, Kuwait scored 250-10 in 50 overs with half  centuries from Mohammed Meezan Ali (83) and Mushtaq Ahmed (51). Saudi  Arabia were dismissed for 126 runs in reply as Abdul Tufail returned with  figures of 5-13 for Kuwait.