February 4, Kathmandu. By Kushal Basnet
Early January, Sandeep Lamichhane, arguably Nepal’s most gifted and popular cricketer, was sentenced to eight years in prison and a fine of half a million rupees (about 3,700 US Dollars) because the court considered it proven that he raped a young woman. The court document reads that ‘the cricketer took advantage of the girl’s poor financial condition’.
In September 2022, Sandeep was in Trinidad & Tobago when an alleged minor filed a police complaint, accusing him of raping her. The girl claimed that Sandeep forcefully had sex with her even after her refusal. CCTV footage from a hotel in the Gaushala area of Kathmandu confirmed that Sandeep stayed with the girl in a room that night. The Kathmandu District Court permitted Nepal Police to arrest him for further investigation.
A sports hero fell from fame to conviction and imprisonment. How did he get there?
From a newbie to a key player
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Nepal in 2018, he highlighted cricket as a connecting link between the two neighbours, mentioning that Sandeep Lamichhane, a young Nepali cricketer, had just signed for the Indian Premier Cricket League.
Sandeep had won the hearts of Nepali youths long before Modi’s statement. During the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, the right-arm leg spin bowler took a hattrick in a match against Ireland, becoming the fifth bowler in Under-19 World Cup history to do so.
In the eyes of Nepali cricket lovers, Sandeep stood out from other Nepali cricketers when former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke invited him to play for the Sydney-based Western Suburbs District Cricket Club in September 2016. In the following 2017 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup, he took five wickets while giving up only eight runs in four overs and three balls to Malaysia.
Sandeep’s stunning bowling statistics made him a perfect fit for the ageing senior national team. Sandeep was listed in the country squad for the January 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament. In his debut match against Namibia, he took a stunning four wickets while giving up only 18 runs in eight overs and two balls. Nepal won by one wicket. After being the Player of the Match twice, he became the Player of the Tournament for taking the highest 17 wickets in six matches. Sandeep grew from a newbie in the team to a key national player in a single tournament. His success story did not end there. In 2021, he became the national team captain at just 21 years, a couple of months after the International Cricket Council (ICC) honoured him as the Player of the Month, and in February 2020, he became the first Nepali bowler to take 100 wickets in a twenty-over T20 cricket match
Sandeep’s success in international cricket went hand in hand with his success in franchise cricket. Since 2018, he has played professional cricket for top teams in India, St Kitts and Nevis, Australia and Pakistan.
A sudden pause
The growing icon was all set to play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) when the rape accusation became public. Sandeep took to Instagram on September 9, 2022, to write: “I am innocent and maintain complete belief in the respectable laws of Nepal. I have decided to take a leave from the CPL and return to my country within a few days. I am ready to face all these baseless allegations. May justice be served to the innocent and right investigations to be done.”
He was suspended from the national team. His fans, haters and everyone else eagerly awaited the cricketer to return to Nepal to defend the charges. However, he returned only after the Nepal Police issued a diffusion notice through Interpol and was taken into custody. In January 2023, he was released on bail with a restriction from leaving the country.
It seemed as if things had cooled down. Sandeep’s suspension to play for Nepal was retracted. But during the trial series for the Cricket World Cup League, Namibia and Scotland filed a protest against the inclusion of a rape-accused cricketer in the national squad. Nepal could not afford to drop Sandeep, he played. Nepal won as the bowler took three wickets each against the two teams. Things brightened up even further for the accused when the Supreme Court of Nepal came with a surprise. The court allowed him to travel to the UAE for the next stage. He helped Nepal to beat Papua New Guinea.
Nepal did not qualify in the end, and the rape case kept overshadowing Sandeep’s career, causing him to withdraw from international cricket in October 2023, citing ‘the need for revitalisation and family time’ as reasons for his abstinence.
And now, he is going to prison. It’s a sad affair for Sandeep and Nepal’s cricket fans, but maybe a good sign vis-a-vis the solidity of Nepal’s legal system. Not everyone is convinced. Sandeep still has supporters who believe that their icon has done nothing wrong. His appeal is still pending. This story is not over yet.