Unmukt Chand Credits Gautam Gambhir for Stability in Delhi Cricket, Laments Post-Retirement Issues

Former Indian cricketer Unmukt Chand has praised Gautam Gambhir for never letting anything wrong happen in Delhi's domestic team. Chand recently opened up on his mistreatment in the Delhi as he was eventually dropped from the side. He played for seven years in Delhi making his debut against Gujarat in 2010 and played his last match against Karnataka in 2017.

He was eventually dropped from the domestic side in 2017 and made a shift to Uttarakhand in 2019. Recently, he opened up on his time in the team and disclosed how former India batter and current head coach Gauatm Gambhir, fought for his players. However, he mentioned that after his retirement a lot went wrong in the team.

"Until 2017, when Gautam Gambhir remained Delhi captain, nothing went wrong in the team because he was a very strong leader. He fought for players and backed them. But when he retired, Delhi cricket went through plenty of upheaval. Nitish [Reddy] was dropped, Dhruv was doing well, and he was dropped too. And everyone knows what's happening," Chand told Lallantop.

Furthermore, Chand mentioned that he was removed from the team due to internal politics and felt distraught after being made the scapegoat.

"You can call it politics because they threw me out. It has never happened that you remove the captain of India A from your state team. I can’t put the blame on one person, but in a way, the selectors of DDCA are the ones taking such decisions. I felt bad that I served the Delhi team for such a long time and did reasonably well too, and then they made me the scapegoat," he added.

Chand rose to prominence after captaining India to Under-19 World Cup victory in 2012 with a match-winning century in the final against Australia. Despite, early promise, his career could never skyrocket as he failed to make it to the Indian team. He announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket in 2021 and shifted his base to USA. He plies his trade for Los Angeles Knight Riders in Major League Cricket in the USA.