'It was a big shock': India's Under-19 World Cup winning captain opens up on USA rejection

File photo by Unmukt Chand.© X (Twitter)

Former India Under-19 World Cup winning captain Unmukt Chand has opened up about his absence from the USA squad for the recently concluded T20 World Cup. Chand retired from Indian cricket in 2021 before moving to the United States for better cricketing opportunities. After playing in the inaugural edition of Major League Cricket (MLC), as well as other franchise tournaments, Chand became eligible to play for the United States. He had also expressed his desire to play against India in the T20 World Cup but was left out of the squad.

Chand revealed that he was shocked to be left out of the T20 World Cup squad, adding that he felt like he was being “sucked inside”.

“It wasn’t an ideal situation. Personally, it was what I had dreamed of for the last three years. Obviously, it was a big shock. And it took me a while to come to terms with it. It’s never easy for a player to have lost all those things back home in India and not have achieved that goal that had kept me going for the last three years. So it’s tough. I won’t say what happened like that. But it was tough. I wasn’t at my best for a while,” Chand told Cricbuzz.

Chand also opened up about his inner demons and said it took a lot of ups and downs to overcome that feeling.

“It was a very internal battle and it’s a trap. It sucks you in from the inside out. That feeling would linger for a day and then go away and come back again. Reality would hit me at different stages. Once you keep going through that, you automatically get better. There comes a point where you just think, this didn’t happen. I don’t even think about it,” he added.

Chand, 31, has something to prove and started the second season of Major League Cricket (MLC) – the United States’ franchise T20 league – with a stunning half-century.

Interestingly, Chand’s current MLC franchise is Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR), which is owned by the Knight Riders group. Many may recall that Chand’s downfall began when he was run out by Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Brett Lee in the first ball of IPL 2013. He made 68 off 45 balls, hitting six 4s and three 6s.

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