Former Indian under-19 skipper Unmukt Chand has announced his retirement from Indian cricket at the age of 28.
Chand’s unbeaten knock of 111 in Under-19 World Cup Final, which led India to win the trophy, is still considered one of the best innings played under pressure. Being the skipper of the team, he was leading from the front all along the cup. One would not be wrong to say that he was thought to be the next big thing of Indian cricket.
However, things did not go as planned for Unmukt. Even after being selected to lead the India A team and hitting back to back centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he was not included in the Indian squad. Also, his poor performance in the Indian Premiere League went against his hopes of playing for the National side.
Chand tweeted his announcement of bidding adieu to Indian cricket and thanked DDCA and BCCI for being supportive throughout his career. He though that he had to take a leap of faith and end this part of life to start something new and exciting.
The right-hander told how tough this decision is for him as a person who has all his life dreamed to play for the country.
“It’s a tough one for someone like me, who has always dreamed of playing for the country. And most of it very emotional one as well and obviously, having played every other cricket, except for the senior team, I think it was a very painful call. But then the last few years have not been very kind to me in terms of facing a lot of association politics among other things. I’ve not been able to play a lot of cricket because of such things and that is why I arrived at this decision, to play some good cricket here in the US. I’d finally like to thank the BCCI for their support over the years in making me the cricketer I am today,” Chand told Cricbuzz.
Here is the tweet that Unmukt put out on his official handle:
T1- On to the next innings of my life #JaiHind🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/fEEJ9xOdlt
— Unmukt Chand (@UnmuktChand9) August 13, 2021
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