Sandeep Lamichhane asked to leave UK immediately after visa issues

Nepalese leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane was all set to ply his trade in the inaugural edition of The Hundred– a new 100 ball-format game proposed by the ECB before he was shown the way out. Lamichhane has been ruled out of The Hundred owing to visa issues. The spinner was all ready to represent the Oval Invincibles in the tournament before visa issues denied him entry.

It has been reported that the Nepalese bowler is still waiting to receive a ‘clean answer’ from England and Wales Cricket Board. He was also ruled out of the T20 Blast tournament due to the same visa issues. Lamichhane also added that he has been following all the instructions closely as given by ECB officials. As per the latest reports, Lamichhane was informed that his contract with Invincibles got affected despite the completion of his mandatory quarantine.

The bowler added that he had completed his quarantine in London before he was told about his visa issues. It was only two days before his quarantine end that he was asked to leave the UK despite saying that he entered the country using the quarantine facility managed by the government itself. Tabraiz Shamsi has already been announced as his replacement for the event.

I was told by ECB that my visa is not valid, reckons Sandeep Lamichhane

“When I applied for the Tier 5 visa, I was told that one Certificate of Sponsorship [COS] would be enough for my gig at Vitality Blast and the Hundred. Due to the COVID-19 situation, there was a delay in my visa and Worcestershire pulled out but it was again communicated to me by officials that as long as I come into the UK before July 10, I would be okay as my COS was still active,” added Lamichhane as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“I came to the UK by July 9, had no issues whatsoever at the immigration, and moved into the government-managed quarantine facility to complete my quarantine. On July 18, two days before my quarantine completion, I was told by ECB that my visa is not valid and I have to leave the country ASAP. I have been asking what went wrong but apparently, no one at the ECB has the correct answer,” concluded Lamichhane.