Sumit Kumar: Meet this Haryana all-rounder expected to start a bidding war in the IPL 2024 Auction
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is known to provide the stage for unknown commodities to showcase their superior talent to the world. Several players lit the IPL with their abilities every year. As the IPL 2024 auction approaches, some new faces might fetch a whopping amount and change their lives forever.
One such player is the all-rounder from Haryana, Sumit Kumar, who has been making waves in the domestic circuit. The 28-year-old might be on several teams’ radar, for he possesses those rare skillsets. He is a tall pace all-rounder, a rarity in Indian cricket.
Sumit can whack the ball hard and provide a final flourish to the team while batting in the lower order. He is a clean hitter of the ball, and Sumit has shown it numerous times while playing for Haryana. Sumit’s stronger suit is his pace bowling, especially early in the innings.
Sumit Kumar is a powerplay specialist who can swing the ball both ways. He extracted ample swing with the new ball in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. While he is still a work in progress, Sumit can also bowl well in the middle and slog overs.
In the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, Sumit was the player of the match in the final and the player of the series for his all-round show. He scored 183 runs at a fabulous strike rate of 155.08 in seven innings of the tournament. He remained not out in six of them while hitting a boundary every 4.72 balls.
Sumit snared 18 wickets at a fantastic average of 16.77 and a strike rate of 24.22 in ten innings. He was also very economical in the tournament, conceding only 4.15 runs per over. He was Haryana’s joint second-most wicket-taker in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023.
His performance in the final against Rajasthan was memorable. Sumit first scored 28 runs in 16 deliveries at a strike rate of 175. It included four boundaries and a maximum. Later, he broke Rajasthan’s back by drawing early breakthroughs for his team.
Earlier, Sumit was Haryana’s second-leading wicket-taker (10) in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He scalped 7 wickets at 9.71 balls apiece, conceding only 6.44 runs an over. The talented all-rounder also struck at 127.58 with the willow.
Sumit has been an integral part of Haryana lately. He is among those rare talents who can bowl at pace and do the lower-order hitting, making him a valuable player. His ability to swing the ball both ways makes him a reliable option early on, as visible by the way he troubled Rajasthan batters in the final a couple of days ago.
Sumit can extract even the slightest movement available in the air. His hitting is improving with every game, and he has the power to muscle the pacers at will. It will be intriguing to see which team goes after Sumit Kumar in the IPL 2024 auction.
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