KATHMANDU, April 21: Sandeep Lamichhane, a leading face of Nepali cricket, has said that he is grateful to Nepali cricket and acknowledged that playing in the Indian Premier League has changed his life.

“I have done really good for Nepal cricket in the past year. That’s why people from Delhi Capitals me last year,” he told the International Cricket Council.

“Playing in the IPL completely changed my life because I got the opportunity to play three games. I did well for Delhi Daredevils. After that, I’ve not had to look back at my journey.”

“I am very thankful and ever committed to Nepali cricket.”

Apart from significant success in the national level, the 18-year-old leg spinner,

Apart from significant success in the national level, the 18-year-old right arm leg-spinner has also thrived in T20 franchise side around the globe.

He became first Nepali cricketer to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament when he was drafted by the Delhi Capitals—where he left impact taking a wicket for 25 runs in his debut match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He took five wickets in three matches with a bowling average of 16.40 last year.

A regular in Delhi Capital, his 3/40 against the Kings XI Punjab Saturday helped Delhi to strengthen its position in No 3 in the table.

“Last year I played three games. But this time I’ve to play a lot of games. That’s where I can improve myself, so that if this time I’m getting seven to eight games, I would like to make sure, next time, I will play all the 14 games.”

“He is a very confident lad,” said Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer. “Even last year, when he used to go for runs, he used to come back really strong.”

“The young lad is fearless and really positive in his approach,” he added.

Lamichhane has taken 8 wickets for Delhi in season.

He also was drafted by the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League, the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League. He also played for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Caribbean Premier League and for the Montreal Tigers in the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada and T10 league.

Narayan Adhikari

CHITWAN, May 22: Cricket fans in Nepal are euphoric with Sandeep Lamichhane’s outstanding performance in the last Sunday’s match held under the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Social media sites and media at home were flooded with words of praise dedicated to the 17 years old leg- spinner who has also made immense contribution to the Nepali cricket as well.

In the Sunday’s match under IPL between the Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians, he, playing for the Daredevils took three wickets, earning huge applauds from cricket fans especially at home and abroad.

Chitwan, being the hometown of Sandeep, was, is and will be obviously proud of his success. The house of Sandeep lies at Chhitrasari of Ratnanagar Municipality-8 in east Chitwan. The family became the center of attraction with his superb performance in the India’s cash-rich T20 league.

Sandeep’s parents – Kopila Devi Lamichhane (mother) and Chandra Narayan (father) – are much happy to see their child on television screen giving his best performance in the IPL. They feel really proud to witness Sandeep’s this great achievement.

Sandeep’s father who had spent 38 years in service at an Indian railway station remembered him as a child with keen interest in cricket, but his practice had begun just at the age of 13.

The Lamichhane couple described Sandip as just their biological child. “Now he has become child of entire Nepal,” the couple said proudly. Sandeep’s family had never thought that he who started taking up ball and bat at 13 years would spread his wings and fly farther in this short span of time.

The couple said they are overwhelmed with happiness to see their son getting love, limelight and good wishes from around 30 million Nepalis and cricket fans across the nation and world.

He rose to fame following his induction into Delhi Daredevils, and the number of his well-wishers and villagers visiting his house is increasing following his outstanding play in the ongoing IPL.

Sandeep had made his debut for the Daredevils in IPL on May 12, after some months of the Daredevils decision to buy him at INR two million at auction. He is the first ever Nepali cricketer selected by the Indian cricket club for the IPL.

Kopila Devi wanted Sandeep to pursue engineering, but he had great interest in cricket, and ultimately chased his passion. “Now he has got what he wanted. I am happy for him and proud of him,” she said.

Chandra Narayan felt that there was a delay in giving an IPL chance for Sandeep when he was allowed into only last three IPL matches. “They might not have trusted him (Sandeep) in the beginning. However he performed well in the end,” he said.

Rastriya Samachar Samiti caught up with Chandra Narayan at 11 am on Sunday just before Sandeep was due to embarking on his last IPL match. “He told us that he was playing today. He also asked for our wellbeing,” said Chandra Narayan.

Sandeep continues making his impact in international cricket, as he is chosen in the ICC World XI squad to play against West Indies in a charity T20 International on May 31.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also mentioned Sandeep while giving a statement at a civic felicitation in his honor given by Kathmandu Metropolis on May 12, the day the lad from Nepal made his debut in IPL. The Indian PM was on a state visit to Nepal on May 11 and 12.

The Lamichhane family had migrated to Chitwan from Aaruchaur (now Arjunchaupari Rural Municipality) in Syangja where Sandeep was born as the youngest child among five to Kopiladevi and Chandra Narayan. RSS

BENGALURU, May 20: Mumbai Indians’ Karn Sharma is confident of winning the IPL final against Rising Pune Supergiant even though they had lost all three league matches against them.

“We are fully prepared and we will win the finals. That is for sure. The losses were in the past,” he told reporters in post-match press conference here.

Mumbai had lost all the three matches against Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Steve Smith’s side in league stages.

Asked was there any pressure on him justify his selection over Harbhajan Singh, the Railways leg-break bowler said that the decision is not in his hands and gets motivated by the thought of performing well and winning match for the team.

“That is not in my hands. The team needs me at that time and I just want to bowl well and win the match for them.

That’s more important. I am working hard even when I am not playing. The main motivation when I get a game is to perform for the team and help the team win,” Sharma said.

Asked what was his strategy to get KKR’s left-handers Sunil Narine and Gautam Gambhir, Sharma said the team had different plans for different batsmen.

For Narine, they were asked to bowl stump to stump line as he swings his bat at every possible opportunity.

“We have different plans for different batsmen. For Narine, we wanted to bowl at the stumps because he has a very good bat swing. We had different plans for different batsmen and that’s what I executed,” he said.

Replying to a query, Sharma said T20 is about momentum and hence the team won the game despite the wicket being a bit slow.

“It was a little bit slow. It was not like the earlier Bangalore wickets. But it was good that we bowled well from the start and got wickets. T20 is all about momentum. We started well in the first six overs and that s why we won the game,” he said.

Even KKR’s Piyush Chawla conceded that it was a slow track but 107 was never going to be enough.

“It was a slow wicket, not a regular Bangalore wicket but getting out for 107 is not enough, we need to work hard on our batting,” Chawla said.

Chawla defended the shot selection of some of the KKR batsmen.

“It (shot selection) completely depends on the batsman; if someone is good at something then they back themselves.

Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. Once you are defending 107 runs then you try and get wickets at regular intervals. We didn’t bat well that’s why we managed to get just 107. -PTI