Unmukt Chand is all but set to make his international cricket debut for the USA soon. The former India U19 World Cup-winning captain will become eligible for selection for USA in March. There is no doubt that Unmukt will be part of the squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. Since Unmukt is a well-established player, he could also be named the captain.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Unmukt said that he wanted to test himself against the best team like India after he moved to the USA. “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,” he said.

Unmukt left India for the USA in 2021. He has played many tournaments since landing in the country. In 2022, he became the first Indian player to play the Big Bash League.

Unmukt captained the India U19 team to a World Cup win in 2012. He stepped up in the final and remained unbeaten on 111 in the chase to the target of 226.

He was named in the India A squad even before the end of the World Cup. Umukt captained India A’s white-ball team for a long time. He lost his spot in the India A squad in 2016. He was dropped from Delhi’s Vijay Hazare team in 2017.

Two years later, Unmukt moved to Uttarakhand and played one season for them. He left for the USA in August 2021. He also captained Delhi during his long stay there.

While he never played for India, Unmukt did make it to India’s probable squads for the 2013 Champions Trophy and 2014 T20 World Cup.

Smit Patel, who hit the winning runs in the 2012 U19 WC final, also moved to the USA few years ago and he is eligible for selection. Harmeet Singh, their teammate in the ICC event, will also play for the USA. India will face USA in the league stage game on June 12.