Did nothing but smile as Sandeep bowled: Michael Clarke's 'humble-brag' after his Nepali protege creates IPL history

Sandeep Lamichhane became the first cricketer from Nepal to land an IPL contract when he was picked by Delhi Daredevils in the ongoing players auction here.

The 17-year-old, the only Nepal player in the IPL auction, was sold at his base price of Rs 20 lakh. The leg-spinner rose to prominence with a successful outing at the 2016 U-19 World Cup where he guided Nepal to a creditable eighth place. He hogged the limelight by becoming the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 scalps in six innings at an average of 17 and an economy of 4.67.

Sandeep had scalped five wickets in two warm-up games and was also part of Nepal's first match against New Zealand, which they won by 32 runs. However, his moment of glory awaited him in the next match against Ireland when Sandeep took a hat-trick, becoming only the fifth bowler in history to achieve the feat in the under-19 World Cup.

His five-wicket haul helped Nepal notch up an eight- wicket win over Ireland and enter the knockout stages for the second time in their seventh World Cup appearance.

Sandeep's performance caught the attention of former Australian captain Michael Clarke, who picked the teenager to play alongside him for Kowloon Cantoons in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz.

Later Clarke also invited the leg-spinner to play for his team Western Suburbs in the NSW Premier Cricket season in Australia.

He has come in for high praise from former Australian captain Michael Clarke who believes the 17-year-old leg spinner from Nepal has the potential to make it big.

Clarke had said: “Sandeep has a lot of potential and is extremely passionate about the game.”

When he played for Clarke’s academy in Australia, he had said: “Sandeep is a fantastic young man who enjoys his cricket and is extremely passionate about the game It is a really exciting opportunity to have such a talented Nepalese cricketer travel this distance to come and test his skills and improve his game at my academy.”

He grew up watching Sachin Tendulkar and said he fantasised about bowling like Shane Warne. He told Sportskeeda: “Maybe God gifted that art to me and I worked on it. When I was young, I used to follow Shane Warne (on TV and his videos on a mobile phone) and fantasized about the way he bowls. I used to watch him bowl leg spin and googlies and practice them in the nets. I can bowl googlies very well, front flippers and yeah, the leg spinners. If my teammates want something else from me, I will work on that. So far, I am doing well. I have some good very variations up my sleeve.”

Now as he got picked, Clarke couldn't be happier and his exhuberance was evident on Twitter. Replying to a quote about grooming him, Clarke said he did nothing 'apart from smile as I watched him bowl'. 

I did nothing mate apart from smile every time I watched him bowl. https://t.co/L2jMX88hzM

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) January 28, 2018

To the people of Nepal, you should be very proud of @IamSandeep25 he is little champion who wants to do his country proud. Cheer him on and enjoy the journey with him. God bless 

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) January 28, 2018

Could not agree more my friend. This young man has all the talent in the world. Superstar in the making! https://t.co/zkVWmaTlmE

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) January 28, 2018

Born in Syangja, Sandeep had spent two-three years in India as a child when his father was working in the Indian railways.

During his stay in India, Sandeep got exposed to Indian cricketer such as legendary Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. He was also inspired by Australian spin great Shane Warne.

Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat was the costliest Indian buy fetching a mind boggling Rs 11.5 crore deal from the usually thrifty Rajasthan Royals while Australia pacer Andrew Tye pocketed a Rs 7.2 crore contract from Kings XI Punjab on the final day of the IPL auction here.

While Unadkat and Tye enjoyed big pay day, 17-year-old Sandeep Lamichhane made history by becoming the first cricketer from Nepal to be bought in the auction with Delhi Daredevils picking him up for his base price of Rs 20 lakh.

After leggie Rashid Khan took home Rs 9 crore on the opening day, another Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Zadran, all of 16 years, was richer by Rs 4 crore when KXIP made the winning bid for the teen sensation.

Nepal's Lamichanne had first hogged the limelight by becoming the second-highest wicket-taker during the 2016 U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh with 14 scalps in six innings at an average of 17 and his effort included a hat-trick.

That led to former Australia captain Michael Clarke inviting the leg-spinner to play for his team Western Suburbs in the NSW Premier Cricket season in Australia.

Much to the relief of Chris Gayle fans, the West Indian opener finally found a buyer towards the end of the day when KXIP bought him for his Rs 2 crore base price.

Gayle was brought into the auction pool for the third time after going unsold twice.

Afghan teenager Zadran has already played the highest level and is currently part of the U-19 World Cup squad in New Zealand. His teammate in New Zealand, Zahir Khan, went to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 60 lakh.

KXIP and RR went into the auction with the biggest purse having retained only one player. RR continued spending big on day two and KXIP too was not far behind.

However, by the end of the day, KKR left both of them behind by using their entire purse of Rs 80 crore despite buying the fewest players, 19.

Barring CSK, who still have Rs 6.5 crore to work with, all teams have almost utilised their purse.

The Royals, known for their wise spending, began day two with a bang splurging some more to Karnataka off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham for Rs 6.2 crore.

The expensive shopping spree was not to end there as they got Unadkat after his price skyrocketed to Rs 11.5 crore from a base price of Rs 1.5 crore following a bidding war between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab. Rajasthan Royals, however, had the last laugh.

Unadkat was sought after because of his specialist T20 skills and the fact that he took 24 wickets at 13.41 for Rising Pune Supergiant last season. He was also the man of the series in India's previous T20 series against Sri Lanka.

Royals had also made the auction's most expensive buy yesterday, picking up England all-rounder Ben Stokes for Rs 12.5 crore.

Their another costly purchase was offie Gowtham, who was sold for 31 times his base price of Rs 20 lakh.

Teams continued with their strategy of going after the Indian players.

Spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar was sold to RCB for Rs 3.2 crore, Punjab pacer Sandeep Sharma went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 3 crore, Kings XI Punjab used Right to Match (RTM) to retain Mohit Sharma for Rs 2.4 crore.

Jharkhand spinner Shahbaz Nadeem was bought back by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 3.2 crore and Mohammad Siraj was picked up by RCB for Rs 2.6 crore.

Like yesterday, KKR targetted the budding talent, picking up another India U-19 performer Shivam Mavi for Rs 3 crore after buying Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shubman Gill on day one.

At a base of price of Rs 50 lakh, CSK got a bargain in South African pacer Lungi Ngidi.

For a moment, it seemed that no Sri Lankan would catch the team's attention until Akila Dananjaya was taken for his base price of Rs 50 lakh. Dushmantha Chameera became the second Sri Lankan after Royals paid Rs 50 lakh for the medium pacer.

Former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson was brought back into the pool for the second time and was picked up by KKR for Rs 2 crore.

However, there were no takers for big international names such as South Africa's Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, England's Eoin Morgan, New Zealand's Corey Anderson and Martin Guptill, and Australian Shaun Marsh.

With inputs from agencies