Sandeep Lamichhane held the Nepal's flag high in his maiden IPL campaign

Last season, the IPL had Mohammad Nabi and Khan, both playing for Hyderabad. Nabi didn’t get too many chances with Hyderabad this year, while Khan was one of the players of the tournament for the same team. But 2018 also had more Afghan interest – Zahir Khan, another teenaged Afghan wrist-spinner, though a left-handed one, went to Rajasthan but had to leave without playing a game, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the 17-year-old spinner, turned out for Punjab and had a big impact: 14 wickets from 11 games at an economy rate of 6.99, including a best of 3/27 against Rajasthan.

But 2018 also had a leg-spinner from Nepal – Sandeep Lamichhane, of course. Strangely, Delhi didn’t field him for the longest time, but when they did, Lamichhane showed what he might have done if he had been thrown into the mix earlier: 1/25, 1/21 and 3/36. That’s all. But he has done enough for at least a few more chances going forward.