Sandeep Lamichhane was appointed captain of Team Nepal in One-day and Twenty20 Internationals on Wednesday, taking over from Gyanendra Malla.
The 21-year-old legspinner, who is currently playing Big Bash League in Australia for Hobart Hurricanes was announced as the captain after the conclusion of the Cricket Association of Nepal’s board meeting held in Kathmandu.
Sandeep’s elevation to the top job in ODIs and T20s brings the curtains down on Gyanendra Malla’s era as captain.
The replacement came as CAN took the action against Nepal’s national team captain Gyanendra Malla, Vice-Captain Dipendra Singh Airee, Fast bowler Sompal Kami and Kamal Singh Airee for alleged violation of the player’s code of conduct.
The four players made complaints about the classification of players made by the CAN, arguing that it was not scientific and practical. Meanwhile, CAN sought an explanation from the players, however, decided to take action saying that the player’s explanation was not satisfactory.
Lamichhane replaced Malla, who took over the captaincy after Paras Khadka stepped down in October 2019. He has previously led Nepal Under-19s in U19 Asia Cup 2016 and ACC World Cup Qualifier 2017. Recently, he led Kathmandu Kings XI, a domestic T20 franchise team in Everest Premier League.
Early days
Sandeep Lamichhane was born on 2 August 2000 in Syangja district. Then he moved to Chitwan and started training at the Chitwan Cricket Academy which is run by former captain Raju Khadka. During a visit by former captain Paras Khadka and former coach of Nepal Pubudu Dasanayake, Sandeep was told to bowl in the nets and thus got selected for the National under-19 training camp.
Lamichhane was named in Nepal’s under-19 squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. In their second match against Ireland under-19s, he took a hat-trick, becoming the fifth bowler to take a hat-trick in under-19 world cup history. He was adjudged man of the match with figures of 5/27.
He finished the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets at an average of 17.07. In the same year, he was picked for the Kowloon Cantons franchise team in the inaugural edition of the Hong Kong T20 Blitz, where he met Australia’s former captain Michael Clarke. They even went on to share the dressing room and it ultimately turned out to rise his career.
Nepal Career
Sandeep made his debut for the senior side on 1 August 2018 against the Netherlands at Amstelveen in One-day Internationals. He has played 16 ODIs taking 41 wickets.
In T20Is, he was picked for ICC World XI against the West Indies side on 31 May 2018, making his debut at the age of 18 years on 31 May 2018. He has played 25 matches for Nepal, taking 47 wickets. He is also the leading wicket-taker for Nepal in both the ODIs and T20Is.
Popular in Int’l T20 Franchises
In January 2018, he became the first player to cement his place in India Premier League for Delhi Daredevils. In March 2018, he also became the first Nepali player to be drafted in Caribbean Premier League. Since then, Lamichhane has been featured in popular T20 tournaments across the globe viz. Indian Premier League, Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League, Big Bash League, T10 Cricket League, Bangladesh Premier League, Afghanistan Premier League, etc.
See the list of Captains of Nepal
With inputs from Wikipedia and Cricinfo
