Pressure on Unmukt's shoulders ahead of tri-nation 'A' series

After failing to match expectations in senior cricket following his transition from the U-19 age-group, Delhi boy Unmukt Chand will be looking to make amends as he leads India A in the tri-nation 'A' series, considered to be a launchpad for getting into the senior team.

While India A will play their first match on Friday, the tournament starts with South Africa A pitted against Australia A in the lung opener tomorrow.

The tournament will be an acid test for 22-year-old Unmukt, whom the Sandeep Patil chaired selection committee thinks as one for the future.

With India playing a lot of cricket in the next two years, the tri-series will also be a chance for the likes of Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav to consolidate their position in the senior team after a fruitful series against Zimbabwe.

But the centre of attention will be Unmukt, who would like to prove his detractors wrong and assert that he belongs to this level.

An average of shade below 35 and a strike rate of 68 plus in over 55 List A matches is certainly not a true reflection of Unmukt's capabilities as he can be destructive on his day and single-handedly win matches for his team.

The weak link of this A team is the pace attack which is filled with military medium trundlers like Sandeep Sharma, Rush Kalaria, Rishi Dhawan and would be spearheaded by Dhawal Kulkarni, who barely touches 135 kmph mark.

With the Chepauk wickets playing truant and being on the slower side,the captains too have a bigger role to play in assessing the conditions rightly and then plan their respective strategies as white kookaburra in early morning can be a factor.

The Australians have more or less mastered the conditions well which was evident from their victory in unofficial 'Test' series.

-PTI