A right arm leg spin bowler, Lamichhane has played for Twenty20 franchise teams around the world including the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League ( BBL), and the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He is also Nepal's all-time all-time wicket taker in both ODIs and T20Is.

Lamichhane made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut against the West Indies where he represented a World XI team. He was the first cricketer to make an international T20 debut as a representative of a combined team. Lamichhane was one of the 11 cricketers who took part in Nepal's inaugural One Day International (ODI) match against the Netherlands in August 2018. In December 2021, Lamichhane was named captain of the Nepal national team, replacing Gyanendra Malla.

On September 8, 2022, Lamichhane was removed as captain and suspended by the Cricket Association of Nepal following allegations of rape by a minor.

Early and Personal Life

Sandeep Lamichhane was born on August 2, 2000 in Aruchaur, Syangja, Gandaki Province. During his childhood he regarded Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne as his cricket idols.

He then moved to Chitwan District and began training at Chitwan Cricket Academy, run by former captain Raju Khadka. During a visit from captain Paras Khadka and Nepal coach Pubudu Dasanayake, Sandeep was asked to throw into the nets and was selected for the U19 national training camp. It was Pubudu Dasanayake who first discovered his talent when he was 14 years old.

Lamichhane is also a singer. He uploads his songs and music videos to his YouTube channel. In July 2018, Lamichhane released his first song Udash thiyo from the album Pratikshya-the waiting.

Early Career

Lamichhane made his List A cricket debut at the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship on 16 April 2016 against Namibia. Prior to his List A debut, he was called up to Nepal's U19 squad for the 2016 U19 Cricket World Cup. In the second game against Ireland under-19s, he scored a hat-trick, becoming the fifth bowler in U19 World Cup history to score a hat-trick. He was named Man of the Match with scores of 5/27.

He finished the tournament as the second highest wicket taker with 14 wickets for an average of 17.07 and a batting average of 21.9.

He was recruited by former English-born Hong Kong cricketer Scott McKechnie to play for the Kowloon Cantons franchise in the first edition of the Hong Kong T20 Blitz in 2016.

Scott was impressed by the youngster's performance during the MCC tour of Nepal in November 2016, where Scott himself was nullified twice by his spin in the same game, prompting Scott McKechnie to head to Lamichhane for the 2016 Hong Kong Blitz competition looking. Lamichhane picked seven wickets in three games against touring Marleybone Cricket Club.

The Hong Kong T20 Blitz actually became a breakout tournament for Lamichhane himself and it eventually proved to be a meteoric rise for him in his younger days as he was spotted for his bowling prowess and even shared the dressing room with World Cup winning captain Michael Clarke during the tournament.

In September 2016, Lamichhane received a letter from former Australia captain Michael Clarke inviting him to play at Sydney's Western Suburbs District Cricket Club. At the 2017 ACC Asia Cup of Under-19s, he bowled 5/8, limiting Malaysia's under-19s to 45 in total, and was named Man of the Match.

T20 Franchise Cricket

In January 2018, Lamichhane was added to the list of players to be auctioned off in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL). Bought by the Delhi Daredevils, he was the first Nepalese cricketer to receive a contract in the IPL. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that India-Nepal ties had been strengthened by the signing.

In March 2018, he was selected for the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the 2018 Caribbean Premier League and became the first player from Nepal to be drafted into the Caribbean Premier League.

In May 2018, Lamichhane made his senior Twenty20 debut for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, becoming the first Nepalese cricketer to play in the IPL. In his debut game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he completed a wicket for 25 runs. In the tournament, he recorded five wickets in three games with a bowling average of 16.40.

In June 2018, Lamichane was selected to play for the Montreal Tigers in the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament. In the tournament he took eight wickets in five games with an average of 19.62.

In September 2018, he was called up to Nangarhar's squad for the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament and subsequently played in one match of the tournament.

In October 2018 he was signed by the Melbourne Stars for the Big Bash League (BBL), becoming the first Nepalese cricketer to play in the BBL. Later that month he was drafted into the Sylhet Sixers squad for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League.

In November 2018, Lamichhane was called up to the Lahore Qalandars squad in the fourth edition of the Pakistan Super League. In March 2019 he was named by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as one of eight players to watch ahead of the 2019 Indian Premier League tournament. The following month, Lamichhane said he recognized the tremendous learning curve involved in playing in the IPL and that it "changed his life."

In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Toronto Nationals franchise team at the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament. In July 2020, he was named to the Jamaica Tallawahs' squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League. In November 2020, he was signed by the Hobart Hurricanes for the 2020–21 Big Bash League.

In March 2021, Lamichhane was signed from Worcestershire to play at t20 Blast 2021 in England. However, in June 2021 he was refused a UK work visa and released by Worcestershire. He was also due to star in the first edition of The Hundred in 2021 but missed out due to visa issues and was subsequently replaced by Tabraiz Shamsi. In July 2022 he was signed by Dambulla Giants for the third edition of the Lanka Premier League.

International Career

In January 2018, Lamichhane was named to the Nepal squad for the 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament. In the opening game against Namibia, he was named man of the match with a bowling count of 4/18 in 8.2 overs. He also shared a crucial last wicket partnership of 18 runs with Basanta Regmi, winning the match by one wicket. In the third game against the United Arab Emirates, he used 3/30 to reduce the opponent to 114 runs. In the fourth game against Kenya, he scored his first five wickets in List A cricket with 5/20 and was again named Man of the Match.

Lamichhane was awarded the ICC World Cricket League Division Two Player of the Tournament award for his frugal bowling and recorded the most wickets in the tournament, 17 wickets in six games.

In February 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named Lamichhane as one of ten players to watch ahead of the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament. After the tournament concluded, the ICC named Lamichhane the rising star of the Nepal team.

In May 2018 he was named to the ICC Rest of the World XI team for the Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge against the West Indies at Lord's. He made his T20I debut in this match.

In July 2018 he was called up to the Nepal squad for the ODI series against the Netherlands. These were Nepal's first ODI matches after gaining ODI status during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Before the games, the ICC named him Nepal's key player.

He made his T20I debut for Nepal in July in game three of the 2018 MCC Tri-Nation Series against the Netherlands. He made his ODI debut for Nepal on August 1, 2018 against the Netherlands.

In August 2018, he was named to Nepal's squad for the 2018 Asia Cup qualifying tournament. In October 2018, he was named to Nepal's squad in the Eastern Sub-Region group for the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifier tournament. With 24 dismissals in six games, he was the leading wicket taker during the tournament.

In June 2019, he was named to Nepal's squad for the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier tournament. He made his first-class debut for Nepal against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on 6 November 2019 during the MCC's Nepal tour.

On February 12, 2020, in a game against the United States in the 2020 Nepal Tri-Nation Series, Lamichhane scored his first five-wicket move in an ODI game. His career highs of 6/16 put the US at an all-time low in ODI history at 35. On 29 February 2020, in the match against Malaysia in the Eastern Region group of 2020 Asian Cup qualifier, Lamichhane became the first bowler for Nepal to record 100 wickets in Twenty20 cricket. In September 2020, he was one of eighteen cricketers awarded a central contract by the Cricket Association of Nepal.

On 11 October 2021, Lamichhane was named ICC Player of the Month by the International Cricket Council.

In December 2021, Lamichhane was appointed as the new captain of the Nepal national team by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) following the disciplinary sacking of Gyanendra Malla along with former vice-captain Dipendra Singh Airee.

In April 2023, Lamichhane was the fastest bowler to take 100 One Day International wickets in terms of games (42). In May 2023, he was named Player of the Series in the 2023 ACC Men's Premier Cup.

Rape Allegations

On September 6, 2022, a 17-year-old girl filed a complaint with the police, accusing Lamichhane of raping her in a hotel room in Kathmandu on the night of August 21. Police confirmed that CCTV footage from the hotel showed that Lamichhane was staying with the girl. On September 8, the Kathmandu District Court authorized the arrest of Lamichhane for further investigation. When his arrest warrant was issued, he was scheduled to represent the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League in 2022.

Shortly after news of his rape allegations broke, he retired from the Caribbean Premier League but denied any wrongdoing. As a result, the Nepal cricket federation, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), suspended Lamichhane from the national team. The Nepalese police issued a disclosure notice against Lamichhane via Interpol. As a result of the notification, Lamichhane was placed on the Interpol police fugitive list.

Lamichhane surrendered to the Nepalese police on October 6, 2022 and was taken into custody by the police. In response to a review motion filed by Lamichhane, a joint panel of judges of Patan High Court Judges Dhruva Raj Nanda and Ramesh Dahal ordered the suspended cricketer's release on bail of Rs 2 million.

After being released on bail, Lamichhane was recalled to the Nepal national cricket team. He also received permission to fly abroad to attend the Cricket World Cup qualifiers.