Kathmandu: Half centuries from openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh guided Nepal to a six-wicket victory over Kuwait as they registered second win in the Hong Kong Quadrangular Twenty20I Series in Mon Kok, Hong Kong on Thursday.

Nepal made 186-4 with seven balls to spare after Kuwait, put to bat first, posted a challenging total of 185-5 at the Mission Road Ground.

Opener Bhurtel smashed 81 runs off 50 and shared a 127-run stand for the first wicket with Aasif before the latter was dismissed. Bhurtel, declared player of the match for the second game in a row, smashed six hits to the fences and sixes each before Yasin Patel made him caught by Nimish Lathief as second wicket.

Aasif scored 53 runs off 38 deliveries that consisted of two hits to the fences and four towering sixes. He was caught by Nimish Lathief in Mohammed Aslam delivery. 

Dipendra Singh Airee contributed 31 runs off 12 that included two boundaries and three sixes.  Gulshan Jha remained not out on nine runs and captain Rohit Paudel on four runs. Kushal Malla, coming to bat at number three, was dismissed on four runs.  

Yasin Patel grabbed two wickets for Kuwait while Aslam and Shafeeq took one wicket each. 

Earlier, openers  Ravija Sandaruwan and Clinto Anto gave Kuwait a solid start. Ravija played a quickfire 26 runs off just 15 balls that included two sixes. His partner Clinto anchored the innings with 41 runs off 30 while Meet Bhavsar added a valuable 35  runs off 28, showing great intent in the middle overs.

Despite a few hiccups in the middle order, Bilal Tahir slammed a blistering 32 off just 13 balls, that included a four and four sixes. Skipper Mohammed Aslam contributed unbeaten 17 runs off 13. 

Sompal Kami was the peak of Nepal bowling, returning with figures of 4-0-36-3 while Nandan Yadav chipped in with two scalps. Lalit Rajbanshi and Kushal Bhurtel also pocketed a wicket each. 

Nepal had defeated Qatar eight-wicket on Wednesday while Kuwait had edged hosts Hong Kong by four wickets. The second victory takes Nepal closer to the final as top two teams will make to the final while bottom two sides will vie in the third place playoff. Nepal  will vie against Hong Kong on Saturday.