Kathmandu : Nepal entered into the semi-finals by defeating Qatar by 68 runs in the ACC Premier Cup cricket tournament held at TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Thursday.

Nepal restricted Qatar to paltry 89 runs while the latter were chasing the 158-run target. To limit to the paltry target, Sandeep Lamichhane took five wickets alone for Nepal while Sompal Kami and Lalit Rajbanshi grabbed three and two wickets, respectively.

Chasing the target set by Nepal, Zaheer Ibrahim and Khurram Shahzad made 15 runs each, Amir Farooq hit 14 runs while the other batsmen could not reach double-digit runs.

Earlier, invited to bat first after losing the toss, hosts Nepal notched up 157 runs losing all the wickets in the allotted 50 overs.

Nepali batsmen did not perform well in the match today. Sandeep Lamichhane topped the score with 42 runs including six fours off 58 deliveries. Rohit Paudel scored 27 runs followed Aasif Sheikh and Dipendra Singh Airee with 19 and 12 runs, respectively.

In reply, Amir Farooq claimed the highest four wickets, Owais Ahmed claimed three wickets while Gayan Munaweera grabbed two wickets for Qatar.