India-born cricketer Unmukt Chand on Monday has responded to the USA team’s direct qualification in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Chand, who has moved his base to the United States of America from India for better opportunities to play cricket, took to his social media handle and shared the news as well.
“Huge News!!! The ICC has today confirmed automatic qualification for #TeamUSA as co-host of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 alongside West Indies!!” The batsman shared the post with the0 caption in a post on their official Instagram handle. He also wrote: ‘2024 it is T20 WC with a common emoji of a bat and ball.’
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Meanwhile, this will be USA’s first-ever World Cup appearance, whereas both the USA Senior Men’s & Women’s sides have the chance to qualify for the next ICC T20 World Cups in 2022 and 2023 respectively. However, Chand shared the Instagram post of USA Cricket on his story and tagged many handles related to the cricket in the country and the event as well.
Notably, in August 2021, Unmukth Chand has announced his retirement from Indian domestic cricket to pursue his dream of playing international cricket. However, the 2012 U19 World Cup-winning captain never got an opportunity to represent India in the senior men’s team despite playing 67 First-Class and 77 T20 matches for the Delhi state team in domestic format.
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Just a few months after moving to the USA, Unmukth Chand led Silicon Valley to a title win in the Minor League Cricket. He had scored 59 off 43 balls against Golden State Grizzlies. However, the talented cricketer will be eligible to play for USA national team after he finishes his residency period of three years as well.
Apart from Unmukt Chand, his former India U-19 World Cup-winning teammates Smit Patel and Harmeet Singh have also moved to the USA and they will also be eligible to play only when they complete their residency period there as well. However, Chand has also become the first Indian-born player to play in the prestigious Big Bash League 2021-22 as he played a couple of games for Melbourne Renegades as well.
