द स्काई इज़ द लिमिट

होनहार युवा क्रिकेटर उन्मुक्त चन्द के अपनी प्रतिभा का प्रदर्शन क्रिकेट के मैदान पर बहुत जल्दी दिखाना शुरू कर दिया था. उसकी इन उपलब्धियों के बारे में कबाड़खाने पर बहुत सारी सामग्री लगाई जा चुकी है. क्रिकेट की अंतर्राष्ट्रीय अंडर – १९ विश्वकप प्रतियोगिता की चैम्पियन भारतीय टीम के इस कप्तान ने एक नई पारी का आगाज़ किया है.

बीस साल के उन्मुक्त ने विश्वकप प्रतियोगिता की चैम्पियनशिप जीतने तक के अपने सफ़र को बाकायदा किताब की शक्ल में आपके सामने रख दिया है. और यह किताब उसने खुद लिखी है – मैं ऐसा पूरी आत्मविश्वास से कह रहा हूँ क्योंकि किताब के शुरुआती अध्यायों के सम्पादन में छोटा-मोटा योगदान मेरा भी रहा था. खेल, पढाई और प्रैक्टिस और तमाम व्यवस्तताओं के बावजूद इस किताब का लिखा जाना युवाओं के लिए बेहद प्रेरणास्पद होगा, मैं उम्मीद करता हूँ.

व्यक्तिगत रूप से मेरे लिए विवियन रिचर्ड्स यानी किंग रिचर्ड्स क्रिकेट के सर्वकालीन महानतम बल्लेबाज़ और खिलाड़ी रहे हैं. उन्होंने ही किताब की भूमिका लिखी है और एक दूसरी भूमिका वी. वी. एस. लक्ष्मण ने.

किताब पेंग्विन इण्डिया से छाप कर आई है और बीती ३० नवम्बर को उसका बाकायदा विमोचन राहुल द्रविड़ और संजय मांजरेकर के हाथों हुआ है.

अपने प्रेरणास्रोतों के रूप में उन्मुक्त अपने प्रशिक्षकों के अलावा अपनी माता, अपने पिता और चाचा को बड़े लाड़ और सम्मान से याद करता है. पूरी किताब अब जब चाहें पढ़ें लेकिन मैं चाहूंगा कि यदि आपके घर में दस से पंद्रह साल का कोई बच्चा है तो उसे यह किताब अवश्य पढने को दें.

आज जब बच्चे इस कदर सेलेक्टिव और आत्मकेंद्रित होते जा रहे हैं, उस माहौल में मुझे इस किताब से उन्मुक्त के स्कूली जीवन से एक पैराग्राफ यहाँ आपके साथ बांटने में गर्व का अनुभव हो रहा है –

The most important decision of my life that turned out to be really fruitful was shifting my school from DPS, Noida to Modern School, Barakhamba Road in class IX. It was a tough decision as I had studied in DPS from the beginning and by then had developed good friendship with many classmates. But the passion for cricket made me bold enough to change the school. Getting admission in Modern school was very tough. They conducted a written test and interviewed me and my parents. It was not my cricket, but on the  basis of my good academic record and swimming feat (I had participated in national level school contest) that I was admitted to  Modern school. It was at this school where I got an idea of what competitive cricket was all about. I started playing with senior players about whom I had heard plenty but had never played with. Many of them were representing Delhi state in different age groups. At Modern school I practiced under Navin Chopra and Uday Gupta sir. My coach at Modern school, Navin sir holds a special place in my heart. He was the one who always tried to help in all possible ways. The four years of Modern School were very productive and fun filled for me. The school gave me the confidence and belief  that I lacked before. It also gave me the right attitude, the so called Modernite attitude. I feel that personality development is equally important for cricketers. They meet so many people from  different backgrounds. They must learn how to conduct themselves amongst these people. Modern school taught me that.

The other important thing at Modern school was my studies. Somehow I always paid utmost importance to studies. It could be because my parents never let me compromise on it. Most of the cricketers used to bunk  classes, even if they were not playing matches, but I never did that. I was very fond of psychology (one of the subjects I studied in school). I attended all psychology classes and even preferred sitting in other sections in their psychology period. There is a saying that when the  going gets tough, the tough get going. It has always happened with me. I have performed better under tough conditions. I love challenges. The bigger the challenge, the better I am. I took Mathematics as one of the subjects in class XI and XII, knowing that I would have to burn the midnight lamp to get decent marks. But still I did. I thought cricket would go well with mathematics. Maths would help me tactically, statistically and working with the angles and stuff like that. I never blamed one thing for the other. I think there are always different perspectives to a situation. You might see no relation, but I did. And I always surprised my teachers and classmates with my marks. Even today I take out time for studies. That is the reason why I could score good marks in my first semester of the first year of BA Programme at St. Stephen’s college. I can never give up studies. I would love to continue with this even while playing for India.