Unmukt Chand is an Indian cricketer. Chand shot to fame when he captained India to victory at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup. Chand’s temperament won plaudits throughout the tournament. He held his nerve to score an unbeaten century against hosts Australia in the final.
Chand currently plays for the Melbourne Renegades in Australia’s Big Bash League and is the first Indian man to play in the league.
Unmukt Chand's promising start
While still in school, Chand made his Ranji debut and scored his first century in his fourth game. He made his IPL debut two weeks after he turned 18 for the Delhi Daredevils. In the early and mid-2010s, Chand featured regularly in the India A side and led them to victories against New Zealand A in 2013 and Bangladesh A in 2015. He also captained the team to a Triangular series win in Chennai. He was the highest run-scorer in the 2012–13 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Chand made a name for himself as a big-match player. Apart from the century against Australia in the 2012 Under-19 World Cup final, he has two more tons under his belt in tournament finals for the under-19 side. In 2013, Chand scored a century for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final helping his team lift the title for the first time.
Chand—often compared to Virat Kohli who had also led India to a win at the Under-19 World Cup—was touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket for a long time.
The decline
Despite a promising start, Chand's cricket career in India never took off. In the IPL, across six seasons for the Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians he scored 300 runs in 21 games. His first and only fifty came for Mumbai Indians against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2015. His last IPL game was in May 2016.
By 2017, Chand was struggling to make his local team Delhi despite having led India A sides. He was dropped from the Vijay Hazare Trophy squad. He left Mumbai Indians as he got little game time but went unsold in the next auction.
Chand eventually fell out of favour at Delhi. In the 2019-20 season, he played for Uttarakhand but could only manage 195 runs in seven games.
Retirement from India Cricket
Amid a faltering domestic career, Chand decided to look for opportunities outside of India. In 2021, Chand retired from all formats of Indian cricket and signed with Major League Cricket in the US. Chand made his debut in Minor League Cricket—American Twenty20 cricket developmental league for Major League Cricket— in August 2021. He ended the season on top of the runs chart with 612 runs from 16 innings as he led his team Silicon Valley Strikers to the championship title.
Chand has said he has received messages from players, coaches and administrators who are interested in opportunities outside of India. He hopes his decision to quit cricket in India might inspire others to follow a similar path.
Big bash league
In January 2022, Unmukt Chand became the first Indian man to play in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL). Chand made his debut for the Melbourne Renegades against Hobart Hurricanes in Melbourne.
