Former India U-19 World Cup-winning captain, Unmukt Chand, brought down curtains on his India career as he moved the USA to take part in the Major League Cricket (MLC). Since the MLC has been postponed till 2023, he is currently playing the Minor League and is in action on the weekends.
Unmukt, who came close to national selection on few occasions, was named in the 30-member squads for ICC Champions Trophy 2013 and T20 World Cup 2014 but couldn’t earn his maiden India call-up. Once a regular India A captain, Unmukt last played for the ‘A’ team in 2015.
Two years later, he was dropped from Delhi’s List A squad and became an irregular member of the state team. This saw him moving to Uttarkahnd but he came back to Delhi for the 2020/21 season. He was benched for the season, which only included white-ball matches.
Unmukt has now moved to the USA and will be eligible to play their national team after completing the residency period. But is he eyeing to play for the USA cricket team? Speaking to Sportskeeda, Unmukt confirmed his ambitions and said that he will stay in the USA for 10 months every year to complete the residency period. As per the rules, he can qualify to play international cricket after 3 years.
“Yes, I can opt for that. It’s only the timeframe, you know ICC rules, you have to spend 10 months in a year to qualify for the country. So I got to spend 10 months every year in the US, for the next three years. After that I qualify to play for the country, and I am all free. Then I can play as many leagues as possible, but for next three years, I can be out of the country for just two months every year. So that means I have to choose my leagues wherever I want to play,” Unmukt told Sportskeeda.
He can play any league during the 2-month window but cannot play IPL now. As per BCCI’s rules, an Indian player cannot play domestic cricket or IPL once he plays any other league.
Apart from Unmukt, Smit Patel, Harmeet Singh and Milind Kumar are among the players who have moved to the USA. Smit and Harmeet were Unmukt’s teammates in 2012 U-19 World Cup.
