A Chand eclipsed: Unmukt Chand, U-19 WC winning captain, retires

New Delhi, August 13

Unmukt Chand, who caught the imagination of the country when he led the Indian cricket team to the Under-19 World Cup title in 2012, has give up his India hopes aged only 28 by announcing his retirement.

Chand, who seemed set for stardom — he even featured in an advertisement with then India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli soon after India won the U-19 World Cup — has decided to “bid adieu to BCCI and seek better opportunities around the world”. “I don’t know how I should be feeling cause honestly I am still figuring it out,” Chand wrote on social media.

Final triumph

Chand, opening the innings for India in the U-19 World Cup final in August 2012, made an unbeaten 111 against Australia to lead his team to victory. Named the Man of the Match for that innings, he was marked out as the player to watch out for in that team — but only Hanuma Vihari from that team went on to play Test cricket while Sandeep Sharma played two T20Is. Chand never represented India at the senior level. He was still a schoolboy when he made his Ranji Trophy debut for Delhi and made 151 in his fourth match at only 17 years. However, his First-Class career never really achieved the height it was predicted to reach and he ended up with a poor average of 31.57.

Chand is likely to sign up for a T20 league in the US. To play in the US, he needed to part ways with Indian cricket as the BCCI does not allow its registered players to figure in foreign T20 leagues. — TNS

Losing his way

It was said he had become too starry and success had gone to his head. He once took a break from an India A camp to attend a seminar organised by a private TV channel. Former India captain Kapil Dev, who was also part of that seminar, had criticised him on the stage. In an interview two years ago, Chand said he made the mistake of taking advice from too many people.

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