Three members of India’s 2012 U19 World Cup-winning squad are likely to play against the Men in Blue at the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the Caribbean.
Left-arm orthodox spinner Harmeet Singh, wicketkeeper-batter Smit Patel and the captain of India’s U19 World Cup 2012 team, Unmukt Chand, are highly likely to represent the USA against India on June 5 in New York.
Harmeet and Smit have secured their qualification to represent the USA, and Unmukt will secure his qualification in March.
The opportunity to play against India would mean testing themselves with players whom they once shared the dressing room with.
Unmukt captained Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Suryakumar Yadav among others during a few India A tours whereas Smit was the first one to captain Bumrah in an age group fixture.
“Something which would be very strange, but I think since I’ve retired from India, my next goal was always to sort of play against India, and not in any bad blood but keen to test myself out against the best team in the world,” Chand said in an interview to Cricbuzz.
Smit recalled the time when he led Bumrah and the impression the seamer left on everyone when he turned up for the practice sessions for the first time.
“Have spent a lot of time with Jassi (Bumrah) over the years. Still remember the day he rocked up to practice for the first and he left us awestruck with what we were witnessing (laughs)” Smit said. “The team had a name for him those days, we used to call him Jasprit Gumrah,” Smit told Cricbuzz.
Meanwhile, India are placed in Group A alongside the USA, Canada, Ireland and their arch-rivals Pakistan. All the teams in Group A will play their matches in the USA.