KATHMANDU: Nepal said Sunday they had not given up hope on including controversial star Sandeep Lamichhane in their T20 World Cup squad, despite the spin bowler being denied a US visa and the deadline for final squads expiring.

The T20 World Cup begins next Saturday, co-hosted by the United States and West Indies, with Nepal’s first game on June 4 in Dallas.

“We are lobbying the embassy through the Nepal government”, Chatur Bahadur Chand, president of Cricket Association of Nepal, told AFP on Sunday.

Nepal are keen to select Lamichhane, who had his eight-year sentence for rape quashed on appeal this month.

The International Cricket Council said that all T20 World Cup squads had been named by the May 25 deadline.

Any alteration to Nepal’s squad would now require approval from the ICC’s event technical committee.

Nepal will play their first two group games in the United States followed by two in the West Indies.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2024