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Upcoming star and Captain of the victorious India under 19 team, Unmukt Chand must realise that playing for the state and country is the ultimate for any sportsman but there is something one owes to one’s college too.

Upcoming star and Captain of the victorious India under 19 team, Unmukt Chand has been in the news for various reasons. There is no doubt that this young dashing Cricketer from Delhi has a bright future ahead of him and will certainly play for the Senior Indian team in the near future. However, there are a lot of people in the Delhi University who will want him to also play for his College, the well known St Stephen’s College which at one time boasted of the best Cricket team on the Campus. College Principal Valson Thampu expressed the desire that he should play for his institution too but also paused to state that Unmukt’s commitments might prevent him from playing for the College.

Unmukt must realise that playing for the state and country is the ultimate for any sportsman but there is something one owes to one’s college too. Stephen’s and the Hindu college at one time had a long rivalry on the cricket field and the clash in the finals at the University cricket ground almost became as emotional as the confrontation between India and Pakistan on the field. The two colleges went on to produce top Cricketers, some of who went on to play for India subsequently. But while they were in College, the commitment to play for the College was total as most of them were granted admission on the Sports quota and playing for the college was playing for pride.

It is another thing that the Cricket supremacy of the two Colleges was first challenged by the Law faculty, which had some of the former students of these two colleges and later by both PGDAV College and Khalsa College. But if someone like Unmukt was to play for his College and University team, the old times can be again resurrected. He is an icon in the making and many youngsters both in school and college will be inspired by his achievements in the future.

While on Unmukt, a needless controversy was created in the media about his attendance problem. Principal Thampu was also drawn into the controversy because he spelt out the University rules but several media persons tried to create an impression that he was holding Unmukt back. The trouble is that there are many journalists these days who do not understand how the University system functions. The Delhi University Vice Chancellor and the Academic Council have the powers to condone attendance shortage and the college has no say in this. Prof.Dinesh Singh, the Vice Chancellor who is also a Stephenian had no problem doing it once the matter came to his attention. Which university will deny attendance to a Lad who has excelled for the country. Unmukt Chand has thus gone to the second year but will have to clear his exams as when he can if he wants to graduate from this famous College. He has many role models to look upto both in the Indian and the Delhi side. It will be nice to see him emulate another under 19 Captain Virat Kohli and try not to go the way of yet another Captain Mohammad Kaif, a very talented Cricketer who has not performed to the expectations at the senior level. This is wishing Unmukt all the very best.