Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane promised to ensure Sandeep Lamichhane will play T20 World Cup.
Fact
Viral video shows Lamichhane addressing the event organised to bid farewell to Nepal national cricket team for 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup.
A video claiming that Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has promised to ensure Sandeep Lamichhane will play in the T20 World Cup is going viral on TikTok.
Nepal’s national cricket team has reached the United States for a training camp ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup. The team led by Rohit Paudel has been placed in Group D, along with Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh and Netherlands. Nepal’s former captain Sandeep Lamichhane was convicted in a rape case by the Kathmandu District Court earlier in December, and his appeal against the verdict is currently sub-judice at Patan High Court.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @bppokharel24 posted a video showing Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane addressing an event organised to honour Nepal’s national cricket team. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Farewell programme for the national cricket team ahead of the T20 World Cup Cricket. The Home Minister vows to ensure Sandeep Lamichhane plays in the World Cup.” In his speech, Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is heard praising Nepali cricketers. “Nepal has made a remarkable stride in cricket. Only a few years ago, it was beyond our dreams to be able to play in the international arena. But Nepali cricketers have proven the fact that if we dare and work consistently then it is possible to achieve. I would like to extend my congratulations to the national cricket team who have been an inspiration for the entire nation…”
The video posted on May 4 has garnered 26.2k likes, 183 users have shared it and 418 users have commented on it.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker ran a search on YouTube to check the entire speech of Home Minister Lamichhane during the event to honour Nepal’s national cricket team. The search threw up several results matching the viral video.
On checking a video, dated May 4, 2024, published on the YouTube channel named HamroKhulkud, we found that the video frame from 0.38-minute timestamp onwards exactly matched the viral video. Though the video showed the entire speech of Home Minister Lamichhane, we didn’t find him uttering the name of Sandeep Lamichhane even once during his speech.
Further, we checked another video from the same event published on the YouTube channel named Nepalplays TV. We found that the video frame from 0.10-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video and the video showed the same speech by Home Minister Lamichhane during the farewell to Nepal’s national cricket team. However, we couldn’t verify the claim from any source that Home Minister Lamichhane promised to induct Sandeep in the national squad.
Thus, we found that the viral video only shows the Home Minister’s speech at an event organised in Kathmandu to honour the national cricket team players before their departure for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Conclusion
No, Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane didn’t promise to induct cricketer Sandeep in the T20 World Cup squad. The viral video shows the Home Minister delivering his speech during an event to honour Nepali cricketers before their departure for playing the T20 World Cup.
Result: False
Sources
Nepal Plays TV/YouTube, May 4, 2024
Hamrokhelkud /YouTube, May 4, 2024
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
