Karan KC's 5 wickets and openers Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel's century partnership helped Nepal to an impressive victory over Oman in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2. Nepal defeated top ranked Oman by 7 wickets on Tuesday.

Oman, who won the toss and elected to bat, was all out for 163 in 46.5 overs. Nepal completed the target in 33.1 overs after Aasif and Kushal shared a record first wicket partnership from Nepal at the Mosa Cricket Ground in Houston. Aasif scored 62 and Kushal 56 runs.

After this victory, Nepal has jumped one place to the fifth position in the seven-nation participating league 2. Nepal has collected 15 points in 15 games. Namibia dropped to sixth place with 14 points from 14 games. This is Nepal's second victory in 6 matches of League 2 against Oman. Oman had defeated Nepal in the other four matches.

Aasif and Kushal shared 114 runs for the first wicket. For the first time, a century partnership was possible in the opening batting from Nepal in the ODIs. The duo had shared a 66-run stand against the United States in Oman in September, an earlier high score for Nepal's first wicket.

The 114 runs scored by Asif and Kushal is Nepal's fourth century partnership and the second highest total in ODIs. 129 runs partnership between Dev Khanal and Dipendra Singh Airee for the third wicket against Papua New Guinea in March is Nepal's highest partnership in ODIs.

Nepal had lost to Oman by 13 runs in the first match of the league tour on Thursday. Both Aasif and Kushal did not play due to injuries. Returning to the team in the second match against USA on Saturday, Asif and Kushal added 56 runs for the first wicket.

This is second consecutive half century for Aasif. He had scored 61 runs in the previous game against USA. Aasif struck seven fours and one six in his 86-ball innings. Kushal hit five fours off 75 balls. Dev Khanal was dismissed for 10 off 12 balls in an attempt to reverse sweep. Vice-captain Rohit Poudel scored 22 off 20 balls.

Earlier, Nepal's bowling was dominated by Karan KC and captain Sandeep Lamichhane. After Karan dismissed Kashyap Prajapati and Shoaib Khan for two runs each, Nepal put pressure on Oman from the very beginning. Sandip bowled opener Jatinder Singh for 23, Ayan Khan for zero and Khawar Ali for one, leaving Oman 49-5 in the 17th over.

Oman captain Zeeshan Maqsood and Sandeep Gaud shared 83 runs for the sixth wicket. Dipendra broke the partnership as Maqsood was out LBW. In the previous match against Nepal, Maqsood had scored an unbeaten 104 runs. He hit 3 fours off 100 balls and scored 52 runs.