Afghanistan make it four out of four

Afghanistan completed a 100 per cent record in the group stage of the ACC Twenty20 Cup with a 62-run win over Maldives on Wednesday.

Opener Shabir Noori scored almost half of his team's runs in a below-par batting display that saw the holders close on 157-8 despite reaching 98-1 after 12 overs.

The right-hander made 76 off 50 balls as he shared in stands of 56 with Karim Sadiq (26) for the first-wicket and 42 with Mohammad Shahzad (19) for the second wicket.

Shahzad's dismissal at the start of the 13th triggered the loss of six wickets for 29 runs.

Noori remained steadfast at the top of the order, however, and was only removed from the penultimate ball of the innings by Ahmed Faiz, who picked up three wickets.

Moosa Kaleem and Mohamed Mahfooz both returned figures of 2-28 from their four overs.

Maldives retained hope of a shock victory for as long as skipper Moosa Kaleem stayed in the reply.

His dismissal for 45 (35 balls, two sixes and seven fours) then brought about a sudden decline from 66-2 to 95 all out.

Mohammad Nabi claimed the spectacular figures of 4-10 from his four overs while Nowroz Mangal picked up 3-3 in eight balls.

Afghanistan now await their semi-final opposition, after topping Group A, while Maldives must defeat Oman in their final group match to have a chance of reaching the last four.

Meanwhile, hosts Nepal have put themselves into a strong position to reach the semi-finals after they picked up a third win out of four games with a 95-run victory over Saudi Arabia at Tribhuvan University.

Mahaboob Alam (88 off 41 balls) dominated a second-wicket stand of 98 with Anil Mandal (35) to send Nepal on the way to 183-5.

The right-hander smashed five fours and six sixes before falling short of three figures when he was out at the end of the 18th over.

Khawar Sohail was the stand-out bowler for Saudi Arabia with 4-27.

Saudi Arabia's response flickered briefly but they were never likely to keep up with a daunting run-rate that began at over nine and steadily increased.

Sanjam Regmi (3-10 from four overs) and Paras Khadka (3-5 from 2.1 overs) did most of the damage on the way to bowling Saudi Arabia out for 88.

With Nepal having greatly boosted their run-rate in the final group match, prospects are now high for a semi-final spot.

They must first wait on the last Group B results for Hong Kong and Oman before the celebrations can begin.