Sandeep Lamichhane

Sandeep Lamichhane is a prodigious yound talente coming from India's neighbouring country of Nepal. He is the first Nepalese cricketer to land an IPL contract and the best thing about his career so far is that it has just begun.

Table of Contents

1. Career
2. Background

Career

Domestic Career

Sandeep made his unofficial senior team debut as a 15-year-old in November 2015 against a touring MCC squad. Hong Kong wicketkeeper Scott McKechnie, playing for the MCC, was dismissed twice by Lamichhane, prompting him to recruit the young legspinner to play for Kowloon Cantons at the inaugural Hong Kong T20 Blitz in May 2016. 

Prior to his List A debut, he was named in Nepal's under-19 squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. The talented leg-spinner was quick to learn the ropes and made his List-A debut in ICC World Cricket League Championship against Namibia.

Impressed by his bowling, Lamichhane in September 2016 received a letter from former Australian captain Michael Clarke, where the former captain invited him to play at the Sydney-based Western Suburbs District Cricket Club.

IPL and other T20 leagues Career

Sandeep Lamichhane created history when he became the first player from Nepal to play in the Indian Premier League. So good was his debut season for Delhi Capitals in 2018 that he was one of the five overseas players retained by the franchise for the 2019 season. Across the two seasons, Lamichhane has played 9 games and taken 13 wickets at an average of 22.46. He has formed a good partnership with seasoned veteran Amit Mishra. The leg-spinner will be looking to make the most of the dusty pitches of the Dubai where the 2020 IPL is taking place.

Lamichhane's dream run continued when in March 2018 he was drafted to play for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League. In June 2018 Lamichane was selected to play for the Montreal Tigers in the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament.

International Career

Sandeep made his T20I debut against the West Indies, where he represented a World XI side. He became the first cricketer to make a T20 international debut representing a combined team. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Nepal's first One Day International (ODI) match, against the Netherlands, in August 2018.

The 17-year old was also a key member of the Nepal side which tried its fortunes at the 2019 World Cup qualifiers. Lamichhane shone bright in the WCL Championship as well, and once again, in 2018, did well in the Division two tournament, ending up as the man of the tournament of the event in Namibia, lifting his nation to the World Cup qualifiers for the second time in history.

On 12 February 2020, in the match against the United States in the 2020 Nepal Tri-Nation Series, Lamichhane took his first five-wicket haul in an ODI match.

Background

Sandeep Lamichhane was born on 2 August 2000 in Aruchaur, Syangja to Kopila Devi and Chander Narayan Lamichhane. Sandeep's father is an employee in Indian Railways. Lamichchane took interest in cricket when he was just six or seven years old and lived in Haryana, India where he spent his 5 years. At the age of 11, he moved to Nepal and joined the ‘Chitwan Cricket Academy‘ in Narayangarh, Bharatpur, Nepal where he received training under the guidance of Raju Khadka. In July 2018, Lamichhane released his first song Udash thiyo from the album Pratikshya-the waiting