Published 18:29 IST, June 8th 2020
India's 2012 U-19 WC winner Unmukt Chand recalls the lowest point in his cricketing career
India's 2012 U-19 World Cup winner Unmukt Chand recalled the lowest point in his cricketing career while interacting with Aakash Chopra
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Unmukt Chand was regarded as the 'Next Big Thing' after he had led India to an U-19 World Cup title triumph in 2012. He had scored a stellar 111 in the final against Australia as India retained the title that Kohli & Co. had won during the previous edition in 2008. Even though it has been almost eight years since that emphatic win, Unmukt, who is now 27, is yet to represent India at the highest level. Now, the youngster has revealed that there was a time when he thought that he was doomed.
'The biggest shock': Unmukt Chand
During an interaction with cricketer-turned-commentator/analyst Aakash Chopra on his Youtube channel, Chand went on to say that the biggest shock for him had come when he was dropped from the one-day team of Delhi. Recalling that time, he said that he was captaining India A in 2016 where he was not only scoring runs but was also playing zonal T20 Cricket in Mumbai and that is when he was dropped from the one-day squad.
Chand then mentioned that he was playing with Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir when the selectors had told him that they were making him prepared for something else and that is why he has been dropped from the Delhi squad. At the same time, the Indian U-19 World Cup winner also revealed how he had to deal with a double blow when he did not get an IPL contract and also failed in getting a chance to play for India A.
He went on to say that he got dropped and got a chance after Delhi lost its first three matches as he registered the scores of 75 and 80 in the fifth and sixth matches respectively to get Man-of-The-Match awards on both the occasions. The youngster then added that since he had not played many matches and did not have many runs under his belt, he was not selected for India A also and it was the first instance that he did not get to represent India A in 2017 and that was also the time when he was dropped from the IPL.
The 27-year-old added that during the same season, he was already a part of the Mumbai Indians whom he had represented in the 2015 and 2016 editions. He then said that MI was such a big team that he was not getting any chance to play (due to healthy competition) because of which he felt like wanting to go to a side where at least he could get matches to play and had talked to someone who had asked him to leave the MI side and approach.
Talking about the same, Chand said that he just wanted to play and it was not about money. He wanted to play even if he was being picked at his base price. However, he went unsold in the auctions and it came as a shocker to him when he realised that there is neither IPL or Delhi cricket for him.
18:29 IST, June 8th 2020