Unmukt Chand dreams of playing against India in T20 World Cup 2024

Under the leadership of Unmukt Chand, India won the U19 World Cup in 2012. Soon after that, he was identified as the next big thing in Indian cricket but his career graph did not turn out to be what it was expected. Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) bought him in the Indian Premier League but the cricketer failed to prove himself and sooner than later, he was no more in contention.

Looking for an opportunity to get more game time, Chand moved to the United States of America after retiring from Indian cricket in 2021. He is now set to earn the eligibility badge after spending three years in the country and will be representing the USA in the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is slated to begin on June 1. Speaking about that, the cricketer stated that ever since he retired from India, his goal was to play against them.

“(It is) something which would be very strange (laughs), but I think since I've retired from India, my next goal was always to sort of play against India, and not in any bad blood but keen to test myself out against the best team in the world,” Chand told Cricbuzz in an interview.

Smit Patel recalls his time playing with Jasprit Bumrah

Stumper-batter Smit Patel and spinner Harmeet Singh, two more players from the 2012 batch have joined the USA team as well. Out of which, Smit has experience playing alongside Jasprit Bumrah in domestic cricket. He has represented Gujarat, Baroda and Tripura in the past before moving to the USA. During his time in Gujarat, the cricketer spent time with Bumrah and recalled one of the practice sessions with the pacer.

“(I) have spent a lot of time with Jassi over the years. Still remember the day he rocked up to practice for the first and he left us awestruck with what we were witnessing (laughs)" Smit told the website. "The team had a name for him those day, we used to call him Jasprit Gumrah (confuse),” Smit said.