Barely a week after being acquitted of rape charges by a Nepal high court, former Nepal skipper Sandeep Lamichhane has said that he has been denied a visa to enter the United States for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup. The 23-year-old leg-spinner was expected to join the Nepal squad before their first warm-up game against Canada next week, but the visa denial has come as a setback to him and the team. (Full IPL Coverage | More Cricket News)
"And the @USEmbassyNepal did it again what they did back in 2019, they denied my Visa for the T-20 World Cup happening in USA and West Indies. Unfortunate. I am sorry to all the well wishers of Nepal Cricket," Lamichhane's online post read.
If the visa issue is not resolved soon, Lamichhane stands to miss the T20 World Cup matches in the USA, despite being cleared of criminal charges. Nepal have two of their four Group D matches slated in the States.
Rohit Paudel and Co take on the Netherlands in Dallas, Texas and face Sri Lanka in Lauderhill, Florida before they head to the St Vincent island (in the West Indies) for their other two games against South Africa and Bangladesh. Whether Lamichhane will be available for the matches in the Caribbean is not known at this stage.
As Lamichhane stated in his social media message, this is not the first time he is facing trouble while obtaining a US visa. He encountered the same issue in 2019, when the then teenager was first refused a visa needed for transit to the Caribbean Premier League, but later able to obtain the necessary visa.
The leg-spinner has represented Nepal in 52 T20Is and picked up 98 wickets to boot. The Nepal national team will open its T20 World Cup campaign against The Netherlands on June 4 in Dallas.
