5 India U19 star cricketers who totally faded away

The U19 cricket tournaments are the events which pave the way for the inclusion of youngsters into the senior cricket team. It is at such events that these budding players get an opportunity to showcase their talent in front of the whole world. U19 events have provided us with many valuable players. Cricketers like Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, and Kuldeep Yadav made their way into the senior team on the back of some solid performances in these junior events.

Often, the ICC U19 World Cup acts as a harbinger of the arrival of prospective senior cricketers. Since the last 10 years, selectors have been keeping a close eye on such events along with the domestic circuit while considering new additions into the team. After achieving success at the junior level, many players have made it big in cash-rich events like IPL, performed well in the Indian domestic circuit, represented India ‘A’ team in various bilateral or tri-series and finally made it to the senior team by impressing with their accomplishments for India ‘A’.

However, some of the players who were expected to be regular members of the Indian team in future have not quite managed to pull their weight around. These players gradually got lost in the midst of rising of other emerging cricketers.

Here is a list of 5 U19 star Indian cricketers who totally faded away

1. Unmukt Chand

The captain of the Indian cricket team who won the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 hosted by Australia raised a lot of expectations when he led the team to the title by scoring an unbeaten 111 in the final against the host nation. He was also the highest run-scorer in the entire event as he accumulated 246 runs under his belt in 6 innings at an average of 49.20. He also held the record of most boundaries and most sixes throughout the event.

After such an impressive show in the event, he was touted to be the next big thing in Indian Cricket. Parallels were drawn between him and Mahendra Singh Dhoni because of his successful leadership. Chand made his IPL debut for Delhi Daredevils in 2011. However, quite unfortunately, his career never took off. In 21 IPL matches, he has managed to score merely 300 runs at an average of 15 and a strike rate of mere 100 with a solitary fifty coming against Mumbai Indians in 2015. Even in First-class matches, he has scored only 3184 runs in 60 matches at an average of 34.23.

Due to his poor run in domestic cricket, Chand could never get a chance to play at the highest level. With his age already approaching 27 and many cricketers already making case for their inclusion into the senior team by scoring a lot of runs, chances for Chand’s addition to the team seem pretty bleak.