For Nepal’s remaining games in the Cricket World Cup (CWC) League 2 series in Dubai, Sandeep Lamichhane will take a flight out to join them. Mousom Dhakal was injured in the nets, thus Lamichhane has been called in to fill in.
In this leg of the series, Nepal is up against Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the hosts UAE, and they have been attempting to find a method to include Lamichhane. Lamichhane is currently free on bond after being charged with sexual coercion of another person. Lamichhane attempted to leave Nepal in violation of the terms of his release, but the Supreme Court of Nepal granted him permission earlier this week. The ICC still needed to confirm his inclusion in the squad at that point.
It would appear that Dhakal’s injury opened the door. “Sandeep Lamichhane will fly to the United Arab Emirates to join Team Nepal in place of the hurt Shyam (Mousom) Dhakal, who suffered an injury during net practice. On February 28, 2023, Mousom injured his shoulder while batting in a net practice session “On Wednesday, the Cricket Association Nepal (CAN) tweeted. On Thursday and Friday, Nepal plays UAE and PNG in back-to-back games.
Without Lamichhane, Nepal defeated PNG by four wickets in their lone game thus far in Dubai. Last week, Nepal had won a CWC tri-series in Nepal with Lamichhane on the team. With 13 wickets in four games, all of which Nepal won against Namibia and Scotland, Lamichhane was crucial in helping Nepal remain unbeaten throughout that series. That was his first time playing in a competitive game of cricket since his arrest in October of last year on charges of sexual coercion.
His participation in that series wasn’t welcomed by everyone. In addition to refusing to shake Lamichhane’s hand following games, the opposing teams’ boards also released statements prior to the series denouncing gender-based violence.
In the CWC League 2, which has seven teams, Nepal is ranked sixth. Lamichhane is third on the list of wicket-takers and leads Nepal with 55 wickets taken in the competition. After the UAE leg, the three teams are scheduled to return to Nepal.
