Teen-age leg-spinning sensation Sandeep Lamichhane is named among the final five short-listed by Nepal Sports Journalist Forum (NSJF) for the prestigious People’s Choice catagory of the Pulsar Sports Award. Sandeep will fight for the coveted trophy with Nawayug Shrestha (football), Pratibha Mali (spiking), Tara Devi Pun (Weight Lifting) and Nabita Shrestha (Table Tennis).
Lamichhane saw a meteoric rise in his career as he was almost cheery-picked by then coach Pubudu Dasanayake and drafted into the Nepalese U19 team for the U19 World Cup. Lamichhane then went on to grab his oppertunities as he picked up 14 wickets in the tournament, second only to the leading wicket taker of the tournament, Namibian F Coetze. The performance also included a hatrick and a five wicket haul against Ireland. He was likened to Shane Warne, the great Australian leg-spinner, after he almost seemed to carbon copy maestro’s famed “Ball of the Century”
Lamichhane was quickly drafted into the senior team’s playing XI as he bowled well to pick crucial wickets against Namibia in his debut series. The teenager also managed to get applause from Michael Clarke, the former Australia captain, when they played together in Hongkong T20 tournament.
NSJF has stated that the winner will be decided on the number of SMS votes and facebook likes with 4 likes counting as a vote. It further stated that one can vote for Sandip by sending his code “SL” as an SMS to 33131.
