Unmukt Chand: What went wrong for India’s next big thing?

After leading India to their third Under-19 World Cup title in 2012, Unmukt Chand looked the next big thing, but failed to make an impact thereafter. He explains why.

Wearing an India cap is a dream we all grew up with. No lucrative IPL contract can ever replace the soul-warming feel of the Indian cap. But there are only 15 players in the Indian team, so it can never go as planned for anyone but those 15. There are a lot of permutations and combinations that eventually take you to the top. Had this happened or had that happened, ‘I would be playing for the country’, cricketers say – but that’s something no one is interested in. So, what does it take to reach the next level?

One thing that is clear to me is that after a certain level, everyone is the same. Our skill sets might vary, techniques might be different and so too the approach, but as they say in Hindi, ‘bas 19-20 ka hi farak hota hai’. It’s just the slight difference between 19 and 20. A player can’t be defined by these aspects. What carries more weight is the mental aptitude to understand the situation, adapt one’s game and have that insatiable hunger to perform each time.

In the second instance, amid unnecessary politics, I was selected for the Vijay Hazare Trophy squad. A day before the first game, I broke my jaw in the nets. I was devastated — I could not afford to miss any more games. With taping and pills, I played the match against UP and scored a century. It was a fantastic feeling!

When you go out to bat, just remember why you first held that bat in the first place. You could have chosen a tennis racquet, a hockey stick, boxing gloves. But no, you chose this bat and ball and you chose it for a reason. Close your eyes and remember the first time you held it. It was simple then, and it should be simple now.

Unmukt Chand led India to the Under-19 World Cup title in 2012.

This essay was first published in the Wisden India Almanack 2019 & 2020.