ISLAMABAD: Lahore Qalandars’ Sandeep Lamichhane, the young leg-spinner from Nepal has taken giant strides since his appearance in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018. He has picked up nine wickets in his last seven T20 outings and is playing for Melbourne Stars in his debut Big Bash League season.
It will also be the 18-year-old’s debut season in the Pakistan Super League when he turns out for Lahore Qalandars.
He has picked up 13 wickets for Melbourne at an economy rate of 6.83 and is likely to turn out alongside Yasir Shah if picked in the Lahore XI.
Lamichhane, is the only player from the ICC’s associate teams in the HBL PSL 2019. Such is his demand in franchise cricket that even though he made his T20 debut only 10 months ago, Lahore Qalandars will be his sixth team in the T20 leagues.
Former Pakistani cricketer Ramiz Raja has also expressed his eagerness to watch the Nepali Twenty20 sensation, saying “If you have not heard Lamichhane’s name till now, you will not only hear him but see him.”
“The youngster will be playing alongside the irrepressible Yasir Shah making a terrific combination in T20 cricket,” said Raja on his YouTube Channel ‘Ramiz Speaks’.
Talking about the Qalandars batting line, Raja was of the view that the Lahore based franchise has deployed a much better team in the current season, featuring three strikers, that is, Fakhar Zaman, Corey Anderson and Carlos Brathwaite and the biggest pick of the season AB de Villiers.