Just In: Sandeep Lamichhane has been sold to Delhi Daredevils in Indian Premiere League (IPL) auction 2018, becoming the first Nepali cricketer to be the part of the Twenty20 cricket league.
The 17-year-old spinner went under the hammer at the 2018 IPL auction in Bangalore on Sunday. He had his base price at INR 20 lakh; and Delhi Daredevils made the winning bid at the same price.
Lamichhane, who made his debut for Nepal international team in 2016, had created history for the country when he bagged a hat-trick in the Under-19 World Cup against Ireland. In the tournament, he took 14 wickets in six matches and was the second highest wicket-taker.
The leg-spinner was later invited by former Australian skipper Michael Clarke – who he played with for Kowloon Cantons in Hong Kong T20 Blitz in May 2016 – to represent the Sydney-based club Western Suburbs in the Australian grade cricket.
“Sandeep is a fantastic young man who enjoys his cricket and is extremely passionate about the game, It is a really exciting opportunity to have such a talented Nepalese cricketer travel this distance to come and test his skills and improve his game at my academy”, Clarke had said about Lamichhane.
Brilliant to see mate, if I was apart of a team I would pick him up quick smart. Wonderful talent and little champion???? https://t.co/vITPy9Mkf0
— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) January 21, 2018
Earlier this month, he had become the first ever Nepali player to be named in the IPL auction list and now, he has been sold. Hopefully, he will be able to make his IPL debut when the eleventh season of the league starts on April 7 this year.
Lamichhane will be part of the Delhi Daredevils 2018 squad that also has Gautam Gambhir, Glenn Maxwell, Jason Roy, Colin Mnro, Mohammed Shami, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra and Abhishek Sharma.
