California: Former India U-19 World Cup-winning captain Unmukt Chand realised on Friday that life in the Minor Cricket League is not that easy. The right-handed batsman was clean bowled for a three-ball duck on his debut in the League. Chand, who opened the batting for Silicon Valley Strikers in the T20 competition in California, was beaten all ends up as the ball jagged back in and went through the defense of Chand.
It certainly was not the ideal way to get his MCL career off, he will look to come back strong in his next game. Despite his poor show, the Strikers won the match by 15 runs. Here is the video of his dismissal:
I don’t think Unmukt Chand will be sharing this on his Instagram Stories anytime soon. Third-ball duck on @MiLCricket debut for the ex-India 2012 U19 World Cup winning captain. He was opening the batting for Silicon Valley Strikers in Morgan Hill, California today. pic.twitter.com/El0G1fLmP1
— Peter Della Penna (@PeterDellaPenna) August 15, 2021
According to sources, Chand’s inability to get an opportunity with the Delhi state team for the limited-overs competitions like Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s this year forced him to eye fresher pastures.
His outing with the Uttarakhand state team in the 2019-20 season also was unproductive and he had to leave the state and try his luck in Delhi for the 2020-21 season. His last six first-class games, all with Uttarakhand in the 2019-20 season, yielded an aggregate of 144 runs.
Though he was ignored by Delhi selectors for the 2020-21 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, he was picked in the squad for the Vijay Hazare one-dayers. However, he didn’t get to play a single game.
Punjab’s Sunny Sohal, Sarabjit Ladda and Rajesh Sharma, Mumbai’s Harmeet Singh, Gujarat’s Smit Patel and Delhi’s Milind Kumar are the others to have shifted to USA.
Harmeet and Patel were Chand’s teammates in the triumphant India Under-19 World Cup side.