Nepali leg-spin prodigy Sandeep Lamichhane continued to impress in his debut Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 season with yet another solid display for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Kingston, Jamaica on Wednesday.

Although Patriots crashed to a 47-run defeat to Jamaica Tallawahs, Lamichhane managed to shine in the game with an economical bowling effort. It was second defeat for Patriots, who are at second bottom of the six-team table with two points. Tallawahs, meanwhile, went on to register their third consecutive victory to stay at the top of the table.

Electing to field first, a solid start from openers Kennar Lewis and Glenn Phillips backed by a brilliant finishing from New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor lifted Tallawahs to 178-4 in 20 overs. Patriots innings was shut down for just 131-9 in reply. Skipper and Twenty20 legend Chris Gayle (24) and Bangladeshi batsman Mahmadullah (22) were the only notable scorers for Patriots.

Gayle introduced Lamichhane in the fifth over and Lewis struck a six off the Nepali bowler in the third ball of the over that went for 10 runs. Lewis smashed a straight six off Lamichhane in his second and the team’s seven over but the Nepali teen bounced back enticing the opener to go for another maximum only to end up holing a catch at long off to Tom Cooper.

One ball later, Lamichhane got rid of Andre McCarthy to pick up two wickets in the single over. He conceded just one run in the third and three in the fourth over to cap another fine day. He ended up with miserly figures of 2-21 from four overs. Lamichhane has so far picked up five wickets in the tournament which he will leave after the fourth game to join the national team.

After playing the match against St Lucia Stars on August 22, Lamichhane will join the national team which is currently preparing for the Asia Cup Qualifiers to be held in Malaysia from August 29 to September 6. Nepal are playing Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, hosts Malaysia and Singapore in the Qualifiers which will send the winners into the Asia Cup scheduled for September 15-28 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The qualifying team will join Asian fierce rivals India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup.   

Lamichhane had looked sublime from the beginning of the CPL picking up 2-12 from four overs in the first match against Guyana Amazon Warriors. He then snapped up 1-17 from three overs against Trinbago Knight Riders in the second match which Patriots went on to win by 42 runs.

He had provided the much-needed breakthrough on Wednesday breaking the 64-run opening wicket partnership between Lewis and Phillips concurrently keeping a tight line but rest of the bowlers failed to back him. Man-of-the-match Lewis scored a 24-ball 49 with four sixes and as many boundaries, while Phillips chipped in 41 off 38 with three sixes. Taylor did the rest smacking 51 off 35 balls with four sixes and two hits to the fence. Carlos Brathwaite and Ben Cutting also took a wicket each for Patriots.