An appeal court in Nepal on Wednesday cleared the country’s highest-profile cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, who was convicted by a lower court of raping an 18-year-old woman. His lawyers welcomed the decision.
Lamichhane, 23, has been the face of cricket in Nepal and the only player from the Himalayan country to take part in prominent Twenty20 leagues in India, Australia, Pakistan and West Indies.
The leg-spinner was suspended as Nepal’s captain and taken into custody after police issued an arrest warrant for him over the assault in 2022, and was later released on bail.