'I Saw Virat Growing in Front of Me' – Former Mumbai Indians star makes big statement on Kohli comparisons

Former Mumbai Indians player Unmukt Chand talked about the comparison of him and Virat Kohli, calling it a source of motivation. On The Raunac Podcast, he spoke about how he would watch Kohli progress in domestic cricket, which made him want to see how far he could go.

Unmukt revealed that he had shared the dressing room with Kohli even before winning the 2012 U-19 World Cup. “I saw Virat growing in front of me. Four years back he had won the World Cup. When I was playing Ranji Trophy before the World Cup itself I was sharing the dressing room with him. So it was an inspiration to me. When people compare you to him, I have to step up to fill those shoes and come to that level. I always look at it like that,” he said.

He also recounted playing alongside Kohli during his first season for Delhi in the 2009 Vijay Hazare Trophy and engaging in numerous conversations while batting with him in domestic cricket. “My first season for Delhi was in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2009. Virat was in the team and I spoke a lot with him at that time. He was there in my Ranji Trophy debut as well. I used to talk a lot to him. I would open with Shikhar and one own was Virat so I have batted quite a bit with him too.”

Reflections on Being the Next Big Thing

After leading India to victory at the 2012 U-19 World Cup, Unmukt Chand was hailed as the next big talent in Indian cricket. It was during this period that comparisons with Virat Kohli, who had led India to the 2008 U-19 World Cup triumph, began to surface.

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Unmukt said that those comparisons were not a burden for him but were motivating him to work harder to improve and try to be elite. And Chand stated that his early interactions and shared experience in domestic cricket with Kohli were a learning experience in themselves.