Nepal vs UAE: NEP opener Aasif Sheikh slams 102 off 106 deliveries in ACC Men’s Premier Cup final
Aasif Sheikh forged a 93-run stand with fellow opener Arjun Kumal before the latter was dismissed in the 21st over.
Aasif Sheikh scored a century for Nepal in the ACC Men’s Premier Cup final against the United Arab Emirates at Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Sheikh reached his hundred from 104 balls, hitting eight fours and four sixes. He opened the innings with Arjun Kumal (43) after Nepal opted to bat first. The duo forged a 93-run stand for the first wicket before Kumal was dismissed.
Sheikh's innings gave Nepal a strong foundation at the top of the order. His 97-run partnership with Kumal provided the team's first major stand of the innings, while his scoring rate increased as he moved towards three figures.
After Kumal's departure, Sheikh continued alongside Nepal's middle-order batters and completed his century from 104 deliveries. He added another run before Haider Ali ended his innings in the 36th over.
Nepal build towards big total
Nepal were 210/3 after 38 overs at the time of writing, leaving 12 overs remaining in their allotted 50-over innings. Rohit Paudel and Gulsan Jha were at the crease as Nepal continued to push towards a competitive first-innings total.
The right-hander had scored just 11 runs in Nepal's semi-final against Oman on Thursday. Nepal won that match by 87 runs after being bowled out for 147 before dismissing Oman for 60.
Sheikh's century was also his first hundred of the 2026 Premier Cup. Sheikh's hundred came after Nepal had already lost two wickets in the final. His ton had taken the score to 185/2 after 34 overs.
He has been a regular member of Nepal's international side since April 2021, and has played 75 ODIs and 76 T20Is thus far.
Nepal began their ACC Men’s Premier Cup campaign with a seven-wicket win over Bahrain in their opening Group A match. Nepal then went onto beat Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong in their next Group A matches, before thumping Oman in the semi-final.
Sheikh was eventually dismissed for 102 by Haider Ali in the 36th over.
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PN Vishnu is a contributor with the LiveMint Sports team, where he primarily covers cricket, football and other major sporting events. A passionate sports journalist with nearly a decade of experience in digital media, Vishnu has been an ardent follower of sports for more than 10 years. While he enjoys covering a wide range of disciplines, his biggest sporting passions remain cricket and football. He is also a devoted supporter of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League and Manchester United in English football. <br><br> Vishnu pursued a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, in 2016 and graduated in 2017. Since then, he has built an extensive career in sports journalism, working with leading media organisations including Deccan Chronicle and Firstpost. In 2025, he worked for CricXtasy for six months before joining LiveMint in February 2026. <br><br> Over the years, he has reported extensively on marquee sporting events such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Indian Super League (ISL). His reporting has also provided opportunities to interact with some of the game's leading personalities, including India cricketers Yuzvendra Chahal and Dhruv Jurel. <br><br> Away from the newsroom, Vishnu enjoys unwinding with books, discovering new music and binge-watching television series.
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