‘Next Goal Was Always To Play Against India’: U-19 World Cup Winner Anticipates Playing Against India In T20 World Cup 2024
A player from India's triumphant 2012 U19 World Cup squad is set to compete against the Men in Blue in the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, set to take place in the USA and the Caribbean.
Unmukt Chand, the captain who led India to victory in the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, is anticipating the unique experience of playing for the USA against his home country in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. Chand is expected to become eligible to represent the USA in March 2024, three months ahead of the World Cup in the Caribbean. Having retired from all forms of cricket in India in September 2021, he has nearly met the eligibility criteria, requiring him to stay in the USA for 10 months a year for three years.
Chand expresses the unusual but keen anticipation of playing against his home country, emphasising that there are no bitter feelings but a desire to test himself against the best team in the world since his retirement from Indian cricket.
"[It is] something which would be very strange, but I think since I've retired from India, my next goal was always to sort of play against India, and not in any bad blood but keen to test myself out against the best team in the world," Unmukt Chand stated in an interview with Cricbuzz.
Unmukt Chand's Cricketing Journey from India to the USA
In the early 2010s, Chand was considered one of the most promising talents in India. However, despite his match-winning century in the U-19 World Cup 2012 final, he struggled to meet the high expectations, prompting him to switch from Delhi to Uttarakhand in the domestic circuit. In 2021, he moved to the USA, where he captained the Silicon Valley Strikers to the first Minor League Cricket T20 title and amassed over 1500 runs across three seasons.
If Chand is selected to play for the USA, he will find himself in the same World Cup group as India and Pakistan, potentially facing players he once captained for India 'A,' such as Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav.
India and the USA are scheduled to face each other on June 12 in the 25th match of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
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