After a gap of eight-long years, Unmukt Chand is standing on the threshold of a potential comeback to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Chand is one of the 574 players who have been shortlisted for the IPL 2025 mega auction, set to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Chand was the captain of the Indian teams that had won the ICC Men's U19 World Cup 2012 in Australia. Chand had a monumental role to play in the final as he smashed an unbeaten 111 off 130 deliveries to help India steamroll defending champions Australia by six wickets and 14 balls to spare. He was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM) for his crucial knock in the summit clash.
The Delhi-born was then picked by Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and represented them for three seasons (IPL 2011, 2012 and 2013) on the bounce. He then made a move to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2014 before playing for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He was a part of the Mumbai Indians squad that won the title in 2015.
However, things didn't go according to plan for Chand and he failed to make it big in Indian cricket. Dejected with the underwhelming results, Chand announced his retirement from Indian cricket in August 2021 and shifted base to the United States of America (USA) in an attempt to resuscitate his career.
Since Chand has retired from all forms of Indian cricket and now plays for the United States of America (USA), he has been named in the IPL 2025 auction as an overseas player. Notably, Chand is one of the three overseas players who belong to Associate nations. His USA teammate Ali Khan and Brandon McMullen of Scotland are the other two.
A total of 208 foreigners have registered for the mega auction.
