BBL franchise Melbourne Stars has signed the Nepal leg-spinning sensation, Sandeep Lamichhane, for the upcoming Big Bash season. He becomes the first player from an associate nation to feature in this T20 League in Australia. Though this will be his first appearance in competitive cricket in Australia, he had earlier played grade cricket in Australia with Michael Clarke as his mentor.
Sandeep became the first Nepal player to feature in Indian Premier League (IPL), picked by the Delhi Daredevils (DD) earlier this year. Since then, he represented various T20 franchises across the globe. Kowloon Cantons in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz, Delhi Daredevils in IPL, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in CPL, Sylhet Sixers in BPL and now, Melbourne Stars in BBL will become his fifth T20 franchise team.
Lamichhane will play for Melbourne Stars in two stints. He will join the Stars camp at the beginning of the season and will leave to Bangladesh in the first week of January to feature in the BPL. After the completion of the BPL season, he will again re-join the Melbourne Stars squad in February for the remaining matches.
“Lamichhane had a successful IPL debut for Delhi and bowled well in the CPL. We have high expectations that he will light up the BBL and become a star of the tournament,” said Trent Woodhill, Melbourne Stars list manager. Mark Parkinson, leg-spinner from Lancashire club will replace Lamichhane in the Stars squad when the latter moves to Bangladesh for his BPL stint. The same has been confirmed by the Stars management.
“The increased flexibility with contracting overseas players this summer has provided us a great opportunity to showcase some of the world’s best up and coming talent. Wrist spinners have dominated T20 tournaments worldwide and we expect our new recruits along with our frontline leggie, Adam Zampa, to have a big impact this season,” said Clint Cooper, Melbourne Stars CEO.
