"Nepali player Sandeep Lamichhane will leave for the West Indies for the ongoing ICC men's T20 World Cup and join the Nepali national cricket team," association secretary Paras Khadka said in a statement.

Nepal said Thursday they were still trying to include controversial star Sandeep Lamichhane in their T20 World Cup squad, despite the spin bowler having been denied a US visa.

Nepali cricket star Sandeep Lamichhane had his rape conviction quashed on appeal Wednesday after the former national captain challenged an eight-year jail sentence for sexual assault handed down in January.

A court in Nepal on Wednesday sentenced former cricket captain Sandeep Lamichhane to eight years in prison for rape.

Lamichhane was once the poster boy for the rise of cricket in Nepal.

Spin bowler Lamichhane, 23, once the poster boy for the rise of cricket in Nepal, is accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in a Kathmandu hotel room in August last year. Lamichhane denies all charges

Nepal's cricket squad on Tuesday headed to Pakistan for the ODI Asia Cup without its star spin bowler, who must stay home to stand trial for alleged rape, officials said.

"The board had taken disciplinary action against him and suspended him. The new decision to lift the suspension will allow him to play games," Cricket Association of Nepal president Chatur Bahadur Chand told AFP on February 1.

Nepali police have sought help from Interpol to locate the country's fugitive suspended national cricket captain, they said Tuesday.

Nepal cricket captain Sandeep Lamichhane on Friday denied allegations that he raped a 17-year-old girl and said he would go home to fight his case.