Afghanistan and Bangladesh were the finalists in the 2010 edition of the Asian Games men's cricket tournament and they could potentially meet again in the 2014 final after both reached the semi-finals with wins over Nepal and Kuwait respectively today in Incheon, South Korea.

Nepal won the toss in their game against Afghanistan and chose to field first. Karim Sadiq was run out in the first over and his opening partner Najeeb Tarakai was bowled by Sompal Kami soon afterwards. Mohammad Shahzad got the Afghan innings on track by scoring 42 from 34 balls.

The rest of the Afghan batting line-up were unable to contribute much at all though, with the next highest score being Mohammad Nabi's 18. Shakti Gauchan and Sagar Pun both took three wickets as Afghanistan were restricted to 119-9 from their 20 overs.

Nepal's reply started slowly, with Paras Khadka looking well out of sorts as he scored just one run from 13 balls before Samiullah Shenwari had him stumped. Binod Bhandari and Gyanendra Malla put on 54 for the fourth wicket before Bhandari was caught behind having scored 48 from 40 balls.

Malla stayed in until the penultimate over, scoring 30 before he became the fourth and final wicket for Fareed Ahmad. No other Nepali batsman was able to reach double figures and they were kept to 111-7 from their 20 overs, losing by just 8 runs. Afghanistan will now face Hong Kong in tomorrow's semi-final.

The other quarter-final today was between Bangladesh and Kuwait, the latter controversially playing after winning a coin toss against the Maldives. To call the game a thrashing would be something of an understatement.

An almost full strength Bangladesh side smashed the ball to all parts of the ground, racking up a huge 224-9 from their 20 overs. The top five batsman all contributed well, but the best amongst them was Mohammad Mithun, who smashed 59 from just 25 balls. Kuwait did take wickets towards the end, preventing an even bigger score. Bastaki Fahad was the pick of their bowlers, taking 3-48.

Kuwait, bowled out for 20 by Nepal in their one completed match, did manage to do a little better than that today, but not by much. They did survive almost five overs, scoring just four runs before the first wicket fell. Nobody made double figures as they were bowled out for just 21. Arafat Sunny was the pick of the bowlers with 4-8, whilst Mahmadullah took three wickets for just one run.

The huge 203 run win ensured that Bangladesh qualified for a semi-final against Sri Lanka tomorrow.

Results

Afghanistan beat Nepal by 8 runs
Yeonhui Cricket Ground, Incheon, 1 October
Afghanistan 119-9 (20 overs, Mohammad Shahzad 42, S Gauchan 3-21, Sagar Pun 3-24)
Nepal 111-7 (20 overs, B Bhandari 48, Fareed Ahmad 4-17)

Bangladesh beat Kuwait by 203 runs
Yeonhui Cricket Ground, Incheon, 1 October
Bangladesh 224-9 (20 overs, Mohammad Mithun 59, Anamul Haque 38, Sabbir Rahman 35, Bastaki Fahad 3-48)
Kuwait 21 (13 overs, Arafat Sunny 4-8, Mahmadullah 3-1)