Nepal ended Group A on top in Singapore on Thursday, June 5, and they did it with a statement. Kushal Bhurtel's 126 off 54 balls drove a 168-run win over Malaysia, pushing Nepal into the semi-finals of the Asian Games Qualifiers as group winners.
The innings was the kind that changes a match before the opposition has time to settle. Bhurtel reached his century off 44 deliveries and finished with 14 fours and eight sixes, while Aasif Sheikh made 68 off 24 balls and Dipendra Singh Airee added 31 off 11 as Nepal surged to 275-7 after Malaysia invited them to bat first.
For Bhurtel, it was the latest step in a remarkable scoring run. He had made 129 against China in Nepal's opener on May 31, and before that his maiden T20I hundred came with 104 against the Philippines on February 19, 2022. This latest effort gave Nepal its first back-to-back T20I hundreds from the same batter, a rare line on any scorecard.
Malaysia were not flattened in the standings, even if they were flattened on the field. Syed Aziz led their reply with 54 off 45 balls, but Sher Malla's 3 for 14 in four overs helped limit Malaysia to 108-9, and Nepal's margin left no doubt about the gap on the day. Virandeep Singh took three wickets for Malaysia, while Syed Aziz and Vijay Unni took two each, but the chase never moved beyond damage control.
The result mattered beyond the scoreline because both sides had already booked their place at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after beating China in earlier group matches, and Malaysia still advanced to the final four despite the heavy defeat. Nepal finished with four points from two wins, Malaysia with two points from one win, and China went out without a victory. The semi-finals now become the real test: Nepal have the group win, Malaysia have a second chance, and both must turn qualification into something more convincing than what the standings alone suggest.
