Nepal’s hopes to qualify for their second Asia Cup ended after they lost to the United Arab Emirates by six wickets in the semi-final of the ACC Men’s T20 Premier Cup in Al Amerat, Oman on Friday.

Sundeep Jora scored a half-century for Nepal but the defending champions, who were invited to bat first, struggled to build a significant partnership and were restricted to a paltry 119-9 in their 20 overs.

UAE’s Junaid Siddique (2-26) and Ali Naseer (2-28) were the thorns in Nepal’s flesh as the bowlers took crucial wickets early on, triggering a collapse in Nepal’s batting line up.

Siddique got the breakthrough with the first delivery of the innings, removing opener Kushal Bhurtel for a golden duck.

Bhurtel’s opening partner Aasif Sheikh also departed for a cheap eight after Omid Shafi Rahman trapped him leg before in the fourth over.

Naseer then took out Nepal’s captain and dangerman Rohit Paudel for five, reducing the Rhinos to 28-3 after seven overs.

Jora was the sole fighter for Nepal. The 22-year-old batter withstood the UAE bowling attack looking for support from the other end of the wicket but it never came, with big hitters Kushal Malla (3) and Dipendra Singh Airee (5) also kneeling to other destroyer-in-chief Basil Hameed (2-4) and Aayan Afzal Khan, respectively, without making any impact.

Jora reached his fifty off 40 balls, that included four boundaries and two maximums, before he was undone by Muhammad Farooq in the 15th over.

Gulsan Jha then added 20 runs off 16 balls and Karan KC contributed 17 runs off 12 balls to drag Nepal past 100.

In the ensuing chase, the UAE lost their captain Muhammad Waseem to Sompal Kami for 11 in the 1.3 overs.

But opener Alishan Sharafu showed Nepal how to bat with an unbeaten half-century, also helping the UAE avenge for the losses at the last year’s ACC Men’s Premier Cup final and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier semi-final.

Nepal defeated the UAE by seven wickets in the Premier Cup final in Kirtipur in May last year to qualify for the 2023 Asia Cup. Six months later, the Rhinos beat the UAE by eight wickets, again, in the semi-finals of the World Cup Asia Qualifier in Mulpani to book their ticket to the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Sharafu scored 55 runs off 41 balls. His innings featured four fours and two sixes.

Jha gave the UAE some unsteady moments, breaking the partnership between Sharafu and Vishnu Sukumaran (28 off 28) and dispatching Asif Khan (10) but Sharafu held on.

Syed Haider then added 14 runs off 15 balls, aiding Sharafu to take the UAE to 123-4 in 17.2 overs.

The UAE will face Oman in a high-stake final on Sunday. The winners of the tournament will secure their ticket to the 2025 T20 Asia Cup.

Oman defeated Hong Kong by five wickets in the other semi-final match, thanks to an allround performance from Aqib Ilyas. Ilyas took 3-14 to restrict Hong Kong to 130-9 and scored an unbeaten 62 off 51 to guide Oman to 132-5 in 19.2 overs.

Nepal will play against Hong Kong in the third-place play off on Saturday.

The third-placed team will qualify for the ACC Emerging Cup along with the two finalists.