Skipper Sandeep Lamichhane continued his brilliant performance in the ICC U-19 World Cup Division 1 Qualifier for Asia Region as the leg spinner picked up seven wickets in Nepal’s five-wicket victory over Malaysia in Singapore on Monday.

At the Indian Association Ground, Nepal bundled out Malaysia for just 89 runs in 35.1 overs after Lamichhane completed his third five-wicket haul in five matches in the tournament. While bowling continued to put Nepal on top, the batting department once again failed to impress as the team struggled in the chase, reaching 92-5 in 22.2 overs.

Nepal are currently second in the table with eight points from five games and will meet Afghanistan in the second leg of the round robin league tournament. Nepal are left with a monumental task to reach the 2018 World Cup needing a victory with exceedingly huge margin against the Afghans on Tuesday. Afghanistan, who had hammered Nepal by 141 runs in the first leg, lead the standings with maximum 10 points from five wins.

Lamichhane’s another bold performance with the ball was the toast of the day. He returned the figures of 7-13 from nine overs, providing Nepal a crucial breakthrough in the game. After left-arm seamer Rijan Dhakal—playing his first match of the tournament—removed opener Saifullah Malik (0) in the second over, Syed Aziz and Virandeep Singh (10) had begun to pace the innings with a 58-run second wicket partnership.

Lamichhane stepped in and removed both the set batsmen in his successive overs as Malaysian innings began to crumble. Nepal coach Binod Das was also impressed with Lamichhane’s bowling effort. “Sandeep has been on top of his game throughout this tournament and today was not an exception. He bowled with great accuracy, impressive variation. He surely has been a cut above the rest in this tournament,” said Das.

Lamichhane, who began the tournament with the figures of 5-21 in a four-wicket victory over the hosts, currently is the leading wicket-taker in Singapore with 23 scalps. Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Zadran, with 17 wickets, is behind Lamichhane, who picked up his third man-of-the-match.  

After providing a much-needed breakthrough, Lamichhane took two more wickets and was joined by Sahab Alam who also had two scalps as Malaysia’s

problem dug deeper. Shaunvinder Singh was left stranded on 10 runs from 46 balls. Opener Aziz top scored with 46 from 66 balls with seven fours and a six.

Nepal had a modest start after Sandeep Sunar (15) and Anil Sah (12) began with a 30-run opening wicket partnership. For the first time in the tournament, Nepal had managed to reach 30 runs before the fall of their first wicket. Out-of-form Aasif Sheikh was dropped for the game. Sunar and Sah both fell to Hafizuddin, while Virandeep Singh picked up three quick wickets reducing Nepal to 40-5 in 11.3 overs.

However, Dipendra Singh Airee and Rohit Kumar Paudyal took the team across the finish line with an unbeaten 52-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Paudyal was the leading scorer for Nepal making 34 from 37 balls with six boundaries, while Airee made 19 off 29 with one hit to the fence. Coach Das was once again left concerned by his side’s batting failure. “It still wasn’t the best effort with the bat. But our bowling and fielding departments so far have been outstanding,” said Das.

Afghanistan, meanwhile, notched up their biggest victory in terms of run-margin as they notched up 305-6 from 50 overs as Ibrahim Zadran, Tariq Stanikzai and Darwish Rasooli hit half centuries. Afghans skittled out Singapore for 81 in 18.2 overs.