Unmukt Chand, Indian Cricket's Hope

“I will play grounded shots today, I will not get out the way I did yesterday.”

This was a diary entry made by a seven-year-old boy. I wonder how many senior players do the same. That very boy also described the time spent not playing cricket as ‘time wasted’. People have various reasons for getting up in the morning; some for family, friends, some to go back to sleep later, very few for work. This boy got up every morning just to play cricket. He now leads a team of eleven people, all under 19. However, as a child he used to be in a team comprising of his father and uncle. By now you have probably guessed who I’m talking about. Yes, it is Unmukt Chand.

Now just before the quadrangular series at Vishakhapatnam, the skipper Ankit Bawne’s true age was revealed, and so Chand was made skipper. India won and Chand was the highest scorer. The next quadrangular series was also won by India followed by the Asia Cup, which tied India with Pakistan. Next came the big event of the annum. The U-19 World Cup held down under. India lost to West Indies and painstakingly won against Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea, which put them in the quarter-finals against Pakistan, their then nemesis as they had tied the Asia Cup with them. To top it off, there was the stat that India had never beaten Pakistan in an Under-19 World Cup before. They got Pakistan all out for 137. The batting fell apart, but they won with one wicket left. They then proceeded to beat New Zealand, as the Kiwis made nine runs short of the target. Then came the real challenge.

The finals against the defending champions, the ones whose home ground the matches were played on – the Aussies. India won that match by six wickets, a huge boost for Chand. He became one of the few Under-19 captains to win the World Cup after Mohammad Azharuddin and Virat Kohli.

In the World Cup, he made 78 against Zimbabwe and a 111 not out in the finals, which was what won the Cup for India. After Patel whacked the ball for a four, the ecstatic Indian team ran out onto the field, and Chand was wrapped in the tricolor. The whole team celebrated Usain Bolt style, both hands pointed towards the sky, and the eyes of the Chand family filled with tears. It turns out that there is a similar picture of Chand and his father, hands pointed towards the sky, where his father was saying something to Chand. We’ll come back to that.

Now, Chand has every door open to him. He has been showered with praise by the likes of Ian Chappell and Wasim Akram. He is the number one contender for a spot in the senior team. He is quite well known for his calm, composed stature on field, no matter what the situation; very similar to current skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

So there we have it, from being a seven-year-old who plays cricket on the terrace, Chand has grown up to become Indian cricket‘s bright future and Aussie cricket’s biggest nightmare.

He has all doors open now.As his father was saying to him: the sky’s the limit, for you Unmukt.

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