Kathmandu, February 2

The Cricket Association of Nepal today called rape-accused former national team skipper Sandeep Lamichhane in the 20-member squad for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup League-II Tri-series.

The CAN lifted suspension on Lamichhane after a board meeting on Tuesday night and the cricket governing body included him in the squad today.

Lamichhane, who came out of jail after High Court Patan granted him conditional bail, had met with national team head coach Monty Desai yesterday.

The CAN's decision might be a premature one as the Office of Attorney General has already moved the Supreme Court against the decision of High Court Patan to grant Lamichhane the bail. The OAG has demanded the Court to put the cricketer behind the bars until the final verdict.

CAN President Chatur Bahadur Chand on Wednesday said the board meeting decided to allow Lamichhane to play following international practices and after consulting with International Cricket Council and lawyers.

The CAN called up Lamichhane and Pratish GC in the team and axed 10 cricketers - Sharad Vesawkar, Siddhant Lohani, Bhuvan Karki. Binod Bhandari, Ankit Subedi, Sagar Dhakal, Bibek Yadav, Anil Sah, Abhinash Bohara and Bikram Sob - from the 28-member preliminary squad announced last week. Surya Tamang, Mousam Dhakal, Kushal Bhurtel Aasif Sheikh, Gyanendra Malla, Rohit Paudel, Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Gulshan Jha, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Sundeep Jora, Kishore Mahato, Kamal Singh Airee, Arjun Saud, Bhim Sharki and Kushal Malla retained their places.

Nepal will face Scotland and Namibia at the TU Stadium from February 14-21. Ta-ble-toppers Scotland have 46 points from 32 matches, while Namibia are third on 37. Nepal languish at the sixth place in the seven-team table with 18 points from 24 points.

The CAN did call lift suspension and call Lamichhane in the squad within 24 hours but the cricket governing body has not included him in the grading.

The CAN board meeting approved 18 players for central contract in men's section, while it reduced women's players to 12 in grading.

Lamichhane was arrested from the Tribhuvan International Airport on October 6 last year, more than a month after a 17-year-old girl filed an FIR at Gaushala Police Circle accusing the cricketer of raping her multiple times. After Kathmandu District Court denied bail and sent him to central jail in rape case, Lamichhane filed the petition at High Court Patan. The case was postponed for three times before the division bench of justices Dhruba Raj Nanda and Ramesh Dhakal granted conditional bail to Lamichhane last month.

Lamichhane has been accused of raping a minor at a hotel in Kathmandu on August 21 last year, on the eve of national team's departure to Nairobi for five-match Twenty20 International and threematch One Day Series against Kenya. After leading Nepal to 3-2 victory in the T20I series and also claiming the playerof-the-series award in Nairobi, the globe-trotting cricketer left for the West Indies to play for Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League.

But he had to cut short the CPL journey after the case surfaced and the CAN suspended Lamichhane following an arrest warrant from Nepal Police on September 8. The TIA Immigration Department also blacklisted Lamichhane, while the Nepal Police issued a diffusion notice asking Interpol member countries to locate the cricketer.

Lamichhane rose to stardom after he was picked up in the Indian Premier League by Delhi Daredevils in 2018. The first Nepali cricketer to play in the money-spinning IPL, Lamichhane never looked back and made a fairytale tour across the globe, as he was snapped up by Australia's Big Bash, Sri Lanka Premier League, CPL, Pakistan Premier League, T10 League in the United Arab Emirates, and England's The Hundred.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 3, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.