Unmukt Chand, the former Under 19 World Cup-winning captain, has been signed by the Colne Cricket Club for the Lancashire Cricket League as a professional. The 23-year-old batsman replaces Bjorn Fortuin on the side. This will be Chand’s first stint with an England club.
In past, players like Kapil Dev, Denis Lillee, Jason Gillespie, Murali Kartik, Micahel Holding, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Shane Warne and Steve Waugh have been the part of this league as well.
This will Chand’s second consecutive stint in a foreign league, as he recently played for Prima Bank Cricket Club in Dhaka Premier League (DPL), He had a good run in the tournament, as he minted 107 runs in three innings at an average of 53.50.
The 2016/17 domestic season was not a good one for Unmukt, as the Delhi skipper in first two games of the Ranji Trophy could just score 366 runs in the 12 innings at an average of 30.50. His torrid form continued in Sued Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well where he could just manage just 64 runs in five innings.
This saw being him dropped from the Delhi side for the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. This also resulted in him going unsold in the IPL auction.
Poor performances from few youngsters in Vijay Hazare Trophy saw Unmukt being recalled in the Delhi side and he announced his comeback with two back to back half centuries. However, till then, the IPL auction was done and dusted, which meant that for the first time in seven years Unmukt missed the T20 action of IPL.
Unmukt though is keeping himself indulged, as he earlier played DPL and is now set to fly to England to test his skills in swinging conditions.