Unmukt Chand

Unmukt Chand

Personal information
Full name	Unmukt Bharat Chand Thakur
Born	(1993-03-26) 26 March 1993 Delhi, India
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Batting style	Right
Bowling style	Right arm off break
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2010/11–present	Delhi
2011–present	Delhi Daredevils
2010/11 - present	north zone india team
Career statistics
Competition FC List A T20 Matches 21 26 23 Runs scored 1296 894 443 Batting average 39.27 37.25 20.13 100s/50s 2/8 2/4 2/1 Top score 151 119 125 Balls bowled – – – Wickets – – – Bowling average – – – 5 wickets in innings – – – 10 wickets in match – – – Best bowling – – – Catches/stumpings 20/– 5/– 12/–
Source: Cricinfo, 31 March 2013

Unmukt Chand (born 26 March 1993) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-hand batsman who usually opens the batting. He plays for Delhi in Indian domestic cricket tournaments and Delhi Daredevils in the IPL.^[1] Chand led the India Under-19 cricket team to the U-19 Cricket World Cup victory in 2012. He hit an unbeaten 111 in the final against Australia in Townsville.^[2] He had gained a lot of publicity with this as well as being praised by Australian great Ian Chappell.

Early life

Unmukt Chand is an Indian cricketer who was born in Rajput family to Bharat Chand Thakur and Rajeshwari Chand, who are teachers.^[3] He originally hails from Khudku Bhalya village of Pithoragarh District, Uttarakhand. He plays for Delhi in Indian domestic tournaments and Delhi Daredevils in the IPL . He is doing B.A. Honors from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University . He has captained the Indian U.19 cricket team. He also credits his uncle for his cricketing career

Career

Early career

Unmukt Chand scored 435 runs during his first stint with the Delhi U-19 team. The 435 runs include 2 centuries and 1 half-century. His outstanding performance in the U-19, gave him a place in the Delhi senior team. He scored 151 runs on a seaming track against a seasoned Railways attack in Ranji Trophy 2010-11. That year he also scored two half-centuries against Assam and Saurashtra. In fact, he scored 400 runs for Delhi in five Ranji matches. He has participated in Vinoo Mankad Trophy and the Coach Behar Trophy at the junior level.

Captaincy

Unmukt Chand was named the captain of the Delhi U-19 team^[4] and the North Zone U-19 team. He then went on to become the captain of the India Under-19 cricket team for the quadrangular series that was held in Vishakhapatnam, India. The quadrangular series included U-19 teams from India, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Australia. He scored an unbeaten 122 against Sri Lanka and two fifties against Australia and West Indies.^[5] He ended the tournament with 336 runs from seven outings, just one behind Australia’s Cam Bancroft. He also participated in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy later that season. In his captaincy India also won the U-19 World cup in Australia.

Big-match player

In April 2012, India U-19 cricket team played a quadrangular series in Australia involving U-19 teams from Australia, England and New Zealand. Batting at 3, Chand scored an impressive 94 against England in the semi-final to help India win the match by 63 runs. He followed it up with a blistering century against Australia in the final – an unbeaten 112, which included 9 fours and 6 sixes – to take India to an emphatic 7-wicket victory. India won the tournament under Chand's captaincy, who ended with 281 runs from 5 matches, only six runs short of the tournament's highest run-getter Daniel Bell-Drummond.

In June 2012, in the ACC Under-19s Asia Cup, Chand rose to the occasion once again with a 116 against Sri Lanka in the semi-final before scoring 121 against Pakistan in the final. He won the Man of the match award in both the games. He was the highest run-getter in the tournament with 286 runs from 3 matches.

On 26 August 2012, Chand led the India U-19s to victory in the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Australia. India defeated Australia in the final to lift the World Cup, with Chand scoring a captain's knock of 111* in 130 balls which consisted of 6 sixes and 7 fours.^[6]

On 3 March 2013, Chand scored 116 for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final against Assam to show his penchant for scoring hundreds in tournament finals. Delhi went on to win the game by 95 runs and the title for the first time.

IPL career

Unmukt made his IPL debut for Delhi Daredevils in 2011. He continues to play for them in IPL 6 too. His performances however are nowhere near his match-winning performances for India U19 in the World Cup and he was dropped for the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He's played a total of 7 matches scoring only 61 runs in total.

Youth career statistics

Chand's batting performance playing for India Under-19s:^[7]

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2012-13

The young lad grabbed his opportunity even in this competition. He scored 321 runs at an average of 35.66 with a strike rate reaching 140 for Delhi. He was the highest run-scorer. Chand scored two back to back back centuries, first against Kerala where he scored 105 off 67 balls, and then against Gujarat, scoring 125 off just 63 deliveries. Delhi was later shocked by Odisha in the semi-finals where he failed to score.

Honours and awards

• Castrol Junior Cricketer of the Year for 2011-12

• CEAT Indian youngster of the year 2012

Books

Chand has penned down his memories of the U19 WC into a book Sky is the Limit. The book describes his journey from a normal boy practicing on uneven grounds with his peers to becoming captain of the winning India Under-19 cricket team. Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Sanjay Manjrekar have given their forewords in this book.

References

External links

• Unmukt Chand Profile ESPNCricinfo
• Unmukt Chand Profile CricketArchive
• Unmukt Chand Delhi Daredevils Profile
• India U-19 wins World Cup under the captaincy of Unmukt Chand