Sandeep Lamichhane Nepal captain: Nepal’s star leg spinner named as team’s new skipper after harsh disciplinary action on his predecessor.
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Nepal’s star leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane has been elected as Nepal national team’s new skipper on Wednesday by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN).
Lamichhane’s appointment comes after four players of the Nepal national side had been removed from the list of central contracted players’ for the year 2022.
Lamichhane’s predecessor Gyanendra Malla, his deputy Dipendra Singh Airee were relieved from their respective posts on disciplinary grounds. Along with the duo, speedsters Sompal Kami and Kamal Singh Airee were also not considered for the first six months of the national team central contract starting 2022.
Sandeep Lamichhane Nepal captain: Why were Gyanendra and Dipendra Singh removed?
CAN had formed a probe committee after the aforementioned four players were deemed to have breached the board’s disciplinary code after the former were done with their grading system for the players’ contract list for the year 2022.
The players were reportedly unimpressed by the their board’s ‘unfair grading’ while preparing the list of the pool of cricketers to hand out the central contracts to.
The Cricket governing body had sought clarification from the players twice and concluded they were not satisfactory.
Meanwhile, six members of the Nepal cricket board- Rishi Ram Gautam, Daud Ansari, Karan Mahatara, Amit Babu Pandey, Chhumbi Lama and Sanjay Singh have objected to the Nepal Cricket Board’s decision.
“Taking action is not a solution as we have to play important matches in the near future. But, they didn’t agree. This decision is wrong; it will not benefit Nepali cricket,” said Chhumbi Lama.
CAN’s decision can have serious repercussions taking into consideration that Nepal are to play the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Oman next year in February.
Meanwhile, Sandeep who is currently playing for the Hobart Hurricanes in the ongoing Big Bash league 2021-22 will lead his national side for the first time.
Team Nepal will play against the likes of Ireland, Canada, Oman, Phillippines, Germany, Bahrain in Group A of the the T20 World Cup qualifier. They will join Namibia, Scotland, West Indies, and Sri Lanka to battle it out for the two spots in the ‘Super 12’ teams of next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, if they manage to qualify.
Among the 16 teams, the top 8 teams from the 2021 T20 world cup are automatically qualified for the T20 world cup 2022.
