The Indian Under-19 cricket team recently won the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2022 under the leadership of Yash Dhull and this is the fifth time that the Indian Under-19 s quad has attained victory in the World Cup. Earlier India has won the Under-19 World Cup under the leadership of Mohammad Kaif (2000), Virat Kohli (2008), Unmukt Chand (2012) and Prithvi Shaw (2018).
If you notice, out of the above four names, three have made it big on the international level with their talent. While Mohammad Kaif was an integral part of the Indian cricket team, Prithvi Shaw has also made it to the international level and the success that has been achieved by Virat Kohli, both as a batter and a skipper, has been phenomenal but Unmukt Chand failed to make an impact. Though Unmukt Chand played in domestic cricket and IPL (Rajasthan Royals & Mumbai Indians), he wasn’t able to achieve the same level of success which he did in Under-19.
The 28 years old Unmukt Chand who has played for Delhi and Uttarakhand at domestic level took retirement last year in August and now he has shifted his base to USA for better prospects. Recently, the former Indian cricketer Nikhil Chopra talked on why Virat Kohli was able to achieve success on the big stage but Unmukt Chand could not do so.
According to Nikhil Chopra, the phase in which a cricketer transits from Under-19 to Ranji Trophy is very critical because it is like a boy going to a men’s league and it is really important for the cricketer to understand that under-19 phase is completed and he needs to perform well at the Ranji level as well.
Nikhil Chopra said that Virat Kohli played for Delhi after winning the Under-19 World Cup and he scored a lot of runs, he got selected in the Indian team but got dropped soon; however he got selected once again after he performed well at the domestic level. The former Indian cricketer added that though Unmukt Chand was a great talent, he could not perform to his full potential and for getting a place in the Indian team, a player needs to prove himself better than others.
Unmukt Chand’s career in the USA cricket got a good start as he helped his team Silicon Valley Strikers in winning the Minor League Cricket.
Do you agree with Nikhil Chopra’s views? What is your take about it?