Unmukt Chand blames Delhi’s politics for his exclusion from team

03/12/2018

Unmukt Chand has voiced his disappointment about his omission from the Delhi team and called out team politics as the reason behind the same. Chand has claimed that because of the exclusion, IPL franchises didn’t show interest in him during the action for the upcoming season of the tournament.

Chand came into a limelight when under his leadership the Indian side lifted the U-19 World Cup and at the time, he was considered to be the next big name in Indian cricket. Till now he has not only waited for his debut cap in the Indian senior team but has also been axed from the Delhi’s Vijay Hazare squad. Currently, he is part of India A team and played 81-run knock against Karnataka in Deodhar Trophy in Dharamsala.

“Getting dropped from Delhi was the biggest disappointment of my life. I became the scapegoat of petty politics in the team. I was playing a T20 zonal match in Mumbai two years back when I heard the news of getting axed from the One-day side. I was leading India A in a couple of months before that and was the highest scorer there. I had been the top run-getter for Delhi the previous season, and I was dropped. That was shocking,” the 24-year-old told TOI.

The move was taken just before the auction of the 2018 Indian Premier League and it affected his future in the tournament as the player remained unsold at the end of the two-day event. Chand has been featured in 21 IPL games scoring 300 runs including one fifty.

“I was retained by MI last year but because I didn’t get to play matches in the previous year, I decided to get released from the squad to find a team where I could play, and not sit out, even at base price. Playing is more important than money. It was a hard decision and a big risk too, but I opted out. Unfortunately, I was dropped from the Delhi side four days before the auction, and I’m sure it didn’t send the right signal to the franchisees. I wasn’t picked,” he added.

Chand made his debut for the Ranji side when he was in school and scored his maiden century in his fourth game as he played 151-run knock. But the uncertainty on his place in the team forced Chand to think about playing for another state.

“Yes, I have thought about it. I have been forced to think about it. However, things are still not concrete,” he reveals.Currently, the Delhi player is focussing on scoring more and more runs in the given opportunities as he already scored 400 runs in his last eight games for Delhi across formats.

“I had lived my biggest fear of getting dropped from the Delhi Ranji team, and thus overcame the fear by only realizing the next day that it was a mental barrier and nothing else. I went beyond the fear. It liberated me,” he said.

“Don’t rush. Keep working on the game. Be hard on yourself but don’t forget to love yourself.”