The former captain of India’s Under-19 side, Unmukt Chand, has praised Gautam Gambhir’s leadership during his tenure as Delhi’s captain and claimed that once he went off, the politics started to grow around the Delhi District and Cricket Association (DDCA), which eventually harmed his career in Indian cricket.

The 32-year-old batter, since the last three years, has been featuring for the United States of America (USA) and revealed that several players’ career was hampered once Gautam Gambhir decided to retire from Delhi cricket. Chand dropped the bombshell statement during a recent interaction on Lallantop.

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“Until 2017, when Gautam Gambhir remained Delhi captain, nothing went wrong in the team because he was a very strong leader. He fought for players and backed them. But when he retired, Delhi cricket went through plenty of upheaval. Nitish (Rana) was dropped, Dhruv (Shorey) was doing well, and he was dropped, too. And everyone knows what’s happening.” Chand told Lallantop.

Unmukt Chand exposes DDCA’s politics after Gautam Gambhir retires from Delhi

Chand opened up on being dropped from the Delhi side seven years after his debut in first-class cricket. He slammed the selectors of the state side for eventually putting his career at a crossroads, as he later moved to Uttarakhand in 2019 before quitting Indian cricket two years later.

“You can call it politics because they threw me out. It has never happened that you remove the captain of India A from your state team. I can’t blame one person, but in a way, the selectors of DDCA are the ones taking such decisions. I felt bad that I served the Delhi team for such a long time and did reasonably well.” The former U-19 World Cup-winning captain informed.

Gambhir had a brief stint with the Delhi Capitals after finishing his role with the Kolkata Knight Riders. He is currently the head coach of the Indian men’s side, after mentoring the KKR franchise to their third title-winning campaign of the Indian Premier League in 2024 under Shreyas Iyer’s leadership.