Jharkhand-born wicket-keeper batter Sumit Kumar and his family were pleased as the Delhi Capitals signed the cricketer for INR 1 crore on December 19 during the Indian Premier League 2024 auctions. However, their happiness soon turned out to be an embarrassment for the family due to a photograph goof-up.
During the auctions, the auctioneer, Malikka Sagar called up Sumit Kumar’s name. The cricketer was eventually sold to the Delhi Capitals for INR 1 crore. The franchise also shared Sumit Kumar’s photograph on their social media platform as their latest signing. However, things took a turn when Sumit Kumar found out that the franchise had deleted the post later, and re-posted it with a photograph of another cricketer named Sumit Kumar, who plays from Haryana.
As things turn out, the Delhi Capitals signed for the Haryana all-rounder Sumit Kumar. But what led to the confusion was during the bidding the wicket-keeper’s photograph flashed on the screens instead of the all-rounder’s. Further, the Delhi Capitals too shared the wicket-keeper’s photograph. However, when they realised their mistake, they deleted the post.
In an interview with TOI, Sumit Kumar spoke about the ordeal. He said,
“My mother was so happy. She was continuously praying for me. But how is this possible? I agree that the names can be the same but what about the photo that was flashed on the television screen? My photo was there, my name was there.”
“I failed to console my mother. She was so emotional. She was so happy after seeing my name and photo on the television screen and then this shocking incident happened. Delhi Capitals are a big team. I didn’t expect them to play with a cricketer’s emotions. My family and I felt too bad about it,” he added.
I was confused and shocked: Sumit Kumar
Wicket-keeper batter Sumit Kumar further revealed that the Delhi Capitals in their earlier post had shared his photograph and tagged him as well. He expressed that when he saw the post, he was confident that he had been signed by the franchise. However, later he was left shocked when he found out what the confusion was.
“They put my photo on their Instagram handle as well. They searched for me and tagged me as well. When I got the notification, I was 100 per cent confident. But when they deleted it after a couple of hours, I was confused and shocked,” said Sumit Kumar.
Sumit Kumar has played 20 first-class matches, scoring 584 runs at an average of 20.13, including a century. He has also scored 413 runs in List A cricket and 313 runs in T20s.
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