Sabyasachi Bagchi, Kolkata: Star opening batsman Unmukt Chand dropped from Delhi Ranji Trophy team in 2016-17 season for his poor batting performances and that issue created controversy in Delhi cricket. Captain Gautam Gambhir and coach K.P Bhaskar joined the controversy as Gambhir stood by young Unmukt Chand, Though DDCA officials were not very pleased with Gambhir.
In this season Star opining batsman Unmukt got a chance again in the Ranji squad as coach decided to give former U-19 World Cup winning captain a chance but again he failed to prove and removed from the team. He also didn’t find his place in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Chand and Bhaskar argued with each other as Former cricketer Madan Lal and Atul Wassan also got associated with the controversy.
Unmukt played a brilliant 111 in the final of U-19 World Cup to defeat Aussies in 2012 and later he perform well for Delhi and North Zone to claim a place in the India ‘A’ team but after that he lost his capacity for his bad performance with the bat.
Unmukt said, ” When I performed well in the domestic matches national selectors didn’t select me. Unfortunately I have more foes than friends. Some of them are jealous with me. Iam not like others who calls media every time.
He targeted Bhaskar directly and said, ” K.P Bhaskar has ruined my career. Every cricketer has to face a bad time in his cricketing career. The coach should talk with the cricketer and should help him to come back. But he threw me away. God know what kind of coaching is this.”
Bhaskar was not in a good mood when www.xtratime.in got him over telephone as his side lost to Punjab by 2 runs in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He said, ” Unmukt knows better why he didn’t get chance in the squad. He should concentrate on his batting rather than blaming me. He scored 2-4 half centuries in 10-12 innings. If he thinks that’s enough then I would say he is in dream world. I will not allow anybody to play for Delhi with this kind of performance. No one is bigger than cricket. ”
“He blamed me saying that he didn’t got enough chance but, that’s not true as he failed to score runs in the last season but, we didn’t drop him and gave chance to get back his confidence. He failed again and again. So we had to drop him and we did. This year also he got chance but again failed to deliver as his highest score was just 49 in four matches! How can we give chance to a opening batsman with this kind of performance“ Bhaskar added.
Former cricketer Madan Lal said, ” he is not a deciplined guy which is important for a player. Not only he failed to perform but also his behaviour were questioned in the team. We discussed about him and decided to drop. But if he perform well and look to be deciplined then he can get chance to play for Delhi.”
Delhi senior team selector Atul Wassan said, ” You have to be deciplined and perform well to grow as a cricketer. Though we have seen Sir Vivian Richards, Shane Warne, Sir Ian Botham who had some decipline issues but their performance made them great. So I want to say to Unmukt you have enough time to concentrate on cricket. Do that and don’t waste your time. ”
Cricket pundits from all parts of India were excited to see new star Unmukt Chand. Some of them thought after Virat Kohli, Unmukt will be part India but his continuous bad performances and indiscipline lifestyle restricted him to show his talent to the cricketing world.