<p>Nepal cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane took three wickets and scored 26 runs in Dubai on Thursday after being cleared to fly out for an international tournament despite facing a rape charge at home.</p>.<p>Lamichhane, a star in Nepal after playing in foreign tournaments including the lucrative Indian Premier League, was his country's top wicket-taker and second-highest run-scorer in the World Cup League 2 defeat by the United Arab Emirates.</p>.<p>The 22-year-old spin bowler was added to the squad for the tri-series, also featuring Papua New Guinea, after the Supreme Court lifted his travel ban on Monday and upheld his bail.</p>.<p>Lamichhane is charged with raping a 17-year-old girl in a Kathmandu hotel room in August, an accusation that prompted Nepal's cricket association to strip him of the captaincy and issue a temporary ban.</p>.<p>"He definitely is a world-class bowler, he showed his class today," home captain Chundangapoyil Rizwan told AFP after the UAE's 68-run victory at Dubai International Stadium.</p>.<p>"I was just telling him, now you can be an all-rounder. So yeah, he played well in the end."</p>.<p>About 200 Nepalese fans in the otherwise empty venue cheered loudly as Lamichhane hit four fours in a defiant last-wicket stand of 32 before Nepal, chasing 208 to win, were 139 all out.</p>.<p>When authorities issued an arrest warrant in September Lamichhane initially failed to return from Jamaica, where he was playing in the Caribbean Premier League.</p>.<p>He was arrested after flying back in October but was freed in January on conditional bail that restricted him from travelling abroad.</p>.<p>Nepal's cricket board rescinded his ban two weeks ago, and he was welcomed by cheering crowds for tri-series matches against Scotland and Namibia in Kathmandu.</p>.<p>Although the International Cricket Council did not comment on Lamichhane's selection, Scotland's cricketers refused to shake hands with him after their matches.</p>.<p>The spinner had been a poster boy for the rise of cricket in mountainous Nepal, which gained one-day international status in 2018.</p>.<p>His big break came when he was snapped up by the Delhi Capitals for the money-spinning IPL in 2018, and he has since been Nepal's most sought-after cricketer.</p>
<p>Nepal cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane took three wickets and scored 26 runs in Dubai on Thursday after being cleared to fly out for an international tournament despite facing a rape charge at home.</p>.<p>Lamichhane, a star in Nepal after playing in foreign tournaments including the lucrative Indian Premier League, was his country's top wicket-taker and second-highest run-scorer in the World Cup League 2 defeat by the United Arab Emirates.</p>.<p>The 22-year-old spin bowler was added to the squad for the tri-series, also featuring Papua New Guinea, after the Supreme Court lifted his travel ban on Monday and upheld his bail.</p>.<p>Lamichhane is charged with raping a 17-year-old girl in a Kathmandu hotel room in August, an accusation that prompted Nepal's cricket association to strip him of the captaincy and issue a temporary ban.</p>.<p>"He definitely is a world-class bowler, he showed his class today," home captain Chundangapoyil Rizwan told AFP after the UAE's 68-run victory at Dubai International Stadium.</p>.<p>"I was just telling him, now you can be an all-rounder. So yeah, he played well in the end."</p>.<p>About 200 Nepalese fans in the otherwise empty venue cheered loudly as Lamichhane hit four fours in a defiant last-wicket stand of 32 before Nepal, chasing 208 to win, were 139 all out.</p>.<p>When authorities issued an arrest warrant in September Lamichhane initially failed to return from Jamaica, where he was playing in the Caribbean Premier League.</p>.<p>He was arrested after flying back in October but was freed in January on conditional bail that restricted him from travelling abroad.</p>.<p>Nepal's cricket board rescinded his ban two weeks ago, and he was welcomed by cheering crowds for tri-series matches against Scotland and Namibia in Kathmandu.</p>.<p>Although the International Cricket Council did not comment on Lamichhane's selection, Scotland's cricketers refused to shake hands with him after their matches.</p>.<p>The spinner had been a poster boy for the rise of cricket in mountainous Nepal, which gained one-day international status in 2018.</p>.<p>His big break came when he was snapped up by the Delhi Capitals for the money-spinning IPL in 2018, and he has since been Nepal's most sought-after cricketer.</p>