Favourites Nepal easily won the opening Group B match of the U-19 third Youth Asia Cup-2001 cricket tournament against Oman by nine wickets Thursday.

Nepal chased a moderate target of 46 runs after bundling out Oman for 45  runs in 31.1 overs. Newcomers to the tournament elected to bat after winning the toss.

Nepal scored 50 runs in 10.1 overs for the loss of one wicket. Kanishka Chaugai was top scorer with 27 runs while Bardan Chalise was not out with 12 runs to his credit.

Yashwant Subedi was caught behind the wicket after scoring eight runs. Sanjan Regmi and Lakpa Lama took three wickets each while Binod Kumar Das bagged two wickets.

Regmi and Lama were declared joint men of the match. Nepal plays Singapore  Friday.