Sandeep Lamichhane Declared Innocent

Nepal’s Mystery spinner Sandeep Lamichhance has been declared innocent in a rape case against him by Kathmandu District Court. This decision was taken by the Patan High Court on Wednesday. Lamichhane was punished with eight years of imprisonment for raping an 18-year-old woman, but now, he is available for national squad selections in the group, which will travel to the West Indies and the USA for the T20 World Cup 2024.

Before the judgement passed as per a single-judge bench ordered Lamichhane to pay Rs 2,00,000 in compensation to the victim and to pay a fine of Rs 3,00,000. But now, with every allegation being false, Lamichhane isn’t required to pay any compensation.

Sandeep Lamichhane is among the fastest bowlers to get 100 Wickets in 50 overs format. Sandeep was playing for Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), when he was taken into custody by the Kathmandu Police in September last year.

After this critical allegation, he had been going through a lot of things before receiving the ultimate punishment earlier this January.

Now, with the latest announcement, Lamichhane is all set to make his comeback at the upcoming marquee event in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2023 on June 2nd in the West Indies and USA.  Nepal will play their opening match of the main event against Netherlands on June 4 at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas. They are pooled into Group D, along with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.

Lamichhane was first seen on the international stage in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh where he was Nepal's leading wicket-taker with 14 in six games including a five-for against Ireland. After that, he made it into his senior team debut against Namibia in the WCL Championship.

In 2018, he became the first player from Nepal to be picked in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at a base price of 20 Lakhs from Delhi Capitals.

Sandeep Lamichane has represented the Nepal team in 51 ODIs and 52 T20Is where he has picked 112 and 98 wickets with an efficient economy out of 4.37 and 6.29 respectively. He has a best figure of 6 and 5 wickets in both formats.