Bringing heart to hashtags: Washington Freedom’s Sumeet Rajpal

"Hi, I am interested in this job" was a short response from a small-town boy in Satara, Maharashtra, to a Facebook post calling for applicants eager to marry their love for sport with the emerging world of social media.

Sumeet Rajpal, once a struggling student who flunked multiple board exams and later marketed events at malls was a failed cricketer still chasing the dopamine rush that sport had once given him. That modest message, however, would lead him from shadows of obscurity to flashbulbs of the IPL. It marked the beginning of a remarkable journey that would see him share space with global cricketing elites as the media manager for an IPL team over 5 IPL seasons before finally assuming the challenge to advance the game’s footprint into its unfamiliar terrain of America with Washington Freedom right before the launch of the second MLC season.“I knew if I go back into the same ecosystem, I would essentially be doing the same thing. The thought of doing something repetitive kind of scared me, because I literally visualized the entire routine I'll go through in the season. Wake up, go to the ground, stand with your phones, shoot the same thing, instruct the team to work on the same content. Players are changing, jerseys are changing, but the nets are the same, the actions are the same.

And over the years, you will start realizing that a lot of the captions which go in are also the same. So, that thought of doing something again and again and getting stuck in that loop is something which kind of told me, okay, at least, let's go out and do it at a place where the challenges are different” said Sumeet to Cricbuzz.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Sumeet and his team made an impact right away upon assuming charge. Freedom had only mustered up about 6,000 followers on Instagram up until the start of the second season. Freedom, the champions of the second season, wasn’t just hitting it out of the park in the field but was smashing it off the field as well with follower count soaring almost 5x to 28,000 by the time Steven Smith and his men lifted the trophy.While it was considerably easier for the American offshoots of IPL teams like the MI New York, LA Knight Riders and Texas Super Kings to leverage their fanbase amongst the diaspora to generate substantial follower count from the onset, Freedom made some astute strategic investments by acquiring some of the most coveted players and coaches in the T20 circuit. Players who are not swooned by the low hanging fruits of money but play only if there is a certain pedigree associated in their ownership or coaching ranks.

Freedom remain the only team outside the IPL to be coached by Ricky Ponting, a distinction that not only elevated their profile but also laid the foundation for an aggressive recruitment drive. Ponting's magnetic pull helped Freedom rope in a trio of Australian superstars: Steve Smith, Travis Head, and Glenn Maxwell, a cumulative following of over 9 million.“We spoke to all our athletes. We had a very open communication. I told them about the challenges. And one of the best thing about our players is you open up to them. You tell them what you need, and they'll always oblige. Someone like Glenn Maxwell, one of our best, I still remember seeing about 30-35 Instagram collaboration requests with Glenn Maxwell on his page. Those are the contributions that helped us drive that growth”Securing these many collaborations from a top-flight athlete on their Instagram page in just three weeks is no mean feat.

For perspective, Glenn Maxwell during his 45-day stint in the IPL collaborated with the Punjab Kings’ official Instagram handle fewer than ten times. In many ways, the volume and quality of social media content extracted from elite players hinges on the trust the media manager cultivates behind the scenes.

It's an essential part of the role to read the room. To gauge the team’s mood, sense a player’s rhythm during the tournament, and craft content that aligns with their energy and comfort.“You understand some guys may not be doing really well on the field, maybe feeling a little low, and it doesn't take rocket science to figure that out, right? So what are the ways you can brighten him up, whether it's taking him out for a coffee and having a nice conversation, jamming with the social media team and telling them, hey, look, this guy looks a little beat up right now. Can we do some interesting content which will brighten his mood? So find out his best hits, find out some behind the scenes content where he's being goofy along with other players.

Do some content where you ask questions to other players about good things about him and put it out on social media.”

“I remember we at Freedom created a nice little reel to buoy up Maxwell after he left the IPL owing to an injury. It would have been gutting for him to crash out of the IPL with Punjab on such a high. Athletes are not commodities. They are human beings. And the moment you treat those human beings like human beings.

I think your perspective will change. The content you do will change. And again, content will not be your priority.

Your priority will be to build strong relationships with them, to build trust with them. And that's the game changer”“It all helps with the egalitarian society that Ponting has built within the Freedom unit. He acknowledges that you're here doing a job, you're putting in efforts. You're part of the team, and your efforts are going into creating a better brand for this team. You're helping create an atmosphere which will uplift the players. Coaches like Ponting acknowledge and empower people around him”The scale at which social media is now leveraged by elite sports teams stands in stark contrast to its humble beginnings.

Sumeet has been privy to that churn in the industry, what was once an afterthought has become an all-encompassing pillar of modern sports communication. When he began his journey in the IPL as the media manager of a reputed franchise in 2018, the digital team consisted of just one videographer traveling with the squad.

By 2022, that number had grown to a full-fledged entourage of 10. The traveling media contingent now included four videographers, a representative each from communications, marketing, and social media, two video editors, and a photographer.That was in 2022 but the landscape has evolved rapidly. Today, most IPL franchises operate with significantly larger and more specialized digital teams. It’s not uncommon for motion graphic artists to be part of the traveling contingent. Overall, the social media wing of a typical IPL team when factoring in both on-ground and backend staff can now total upwards of 35 members. The back end operations are equally vibrant.

Teams are now structured into distinct verticals: app management, content marketing (including post promotions), website upkeep, and long-form editorial such as articles and features. Separate teams handle social media operations—from writing captions and scheduling posts to managing platform-specific strategies. Add to that client servicing professionals, graphic designers, video editors, and animators, and you begin to see how comprehensive and high-functioning a modern franchise’s media unit has become.The social media budgets now add up to 50% of an IPL team’s marketing budget. The content creators that are now being hired to travel with the team throughout the season by many IPL teams may cost them anywhere between 40-50 lakhs ($40,000) per season. With the influx of heavy investment, the business of social media in sport has become a high-stakes game. Professionals in this space operate under a high pressure environment, where crores of rupees ride on timely content deliverables.

The challenge is further compounded by the relentless IPL travel circuit and the limited availability of star players which leaves the social media team scrambling for precious windows of access.“At the IPL we have gone 75 to 90 days without taking a single day off, that's how hectic it gets, because there's a lot of pressure. You're constantly switched on. So 15-16, hour shifts are normal in the IPL. I even remember going multiple nights without sleep as well.

People don't switch off for those two, three months. It will drain you once the IPL finishes. You would finish your social media reporting for the next couple of weeks and compile all the numbers, Once that is done, people go on breaks.

At Delhi Capitals, we had a three day mental health break”“You hit saturation. Your brain doesn't function. You have to take a break. You have to get away from it for a few days. So that's how much pressure you're dealing with. And to sustain that pressure for 80-90 days is mental because even though the season will last for 75 days, your prep begins in January for the season, which begins in March, and it's a good five, six months run for a social media team”Despite the unrelenting pace, relief often comes from unexpected quarters.

Some players themselves step in to lighten the load by bringing ideas to the table and offering to collaborate. Over the course of a 15-week grind, a unique fraternity forms. Everyone becomes part of this tight-knit ecosystem, bound not just by professional roles but by shared exhaustion and the quiet understanding that they’re all in this jungle together.

And in that jungle, the only way through the chaos is by looking out for each other until the arduous, yet deeply rewarding journey of the IPL winds to a close.“I have been fortunate with the cricketers I have worked with. They have been empathic to me. I remember we had a sponsor deliverable and I was there with Axar Patel who had stuck around till 2 am before the night of an important gamel during COVID to honor our deliverables. If people ask me, who's been your favorite athlete you've worked with, hands down it has to be Shreyas Iyer. The man understands that everyone is doing their job, and what's the best way he can help support that person.

I've got content whenever I needed and that's been the support they show towards us, and we do the same.

We'll go out of our way to help them out, whether it's with their brands which they endorse, or the brands we need some content to be shot, the social media team will just jump in and help them out. So it's a very beautiful relationship which starts forming between these two teams”

“Some players are naturally inclined towards content, so they'll sit, they'll jam, and ask for fashionable content. Shreyas loves fashion. We helped create a partnership where Shreyas got featured on Instagram's global page, and we did a transition between fashion and cricket. Him wearing his normal clothes, transitioning into the match day clothes, sitting and doing his yoga to his dancing. So all those transitions, part of his personalities were displayed into one video, and that went on the global Instagram team, which was quite crazy for us”“Top cricketers today understand image building and have taken a leaf out of top athletes from other sports.

Like a Kareem Benzema, if you would see his content it looks top class, it's fashion, it's sport, it's him gyming, wearing fashionable things, driving beautiful cars. So if there's an athlete who resonates a lot with him, then he will share those content pieces with us, and then we'll sit together and plan a few things out.

So he'll carry multiple costumes, and then you go and shoot with them. So a lot of cricketers have certain images and we focus on specific content for them”“Shikhar also again is one of my most favorite persons I've ever met in my life, and the sweetest person. You wouldn't believe his brain works so sharp. He always has ideas about what reels he wants to do. He knows when to shoot a reel. What's the right sentiment? Who are the guys to feature in the reel? I remember a reel during my time at the IPL and it was a dialog from a 90s Bollywood movie called Tridev. It was his idea and was just waiting for a thumping win for the team to get on with it”Over time, the content produced by franchises has undergone a significant transformation.

Storytelling has become the cornerstone of every reel or video. Today’s reels often resemble mini films. They are deeply context-driven. Take, for instance, a reel featuring a star batsmen in a net session: it’s no longer just about capturing him hitting balls. The narrative might begin with a shot of the player leaving the hotel with some swag in his stride, followed by him boarding the team bus, slipping on his gloves, and finally stepping into the nets.

The climax unfolds with a flurry of crisp shots, perhaps punctuated by a tongue-in-cheek quip from a coach or teammate—all set to background music that enhances the mood and visual appeal.

“Initially, the content was way too packaged. People will edit it a lot. There would be fast cuts, transitions and heavy music. If I were to watch those videos again, they’d give me a headache! But the way it evolved is that it has started getting a lot more authentic, to an extent where now authentic content seems to be a cliche.

And by authentic content, I mean you show the real side of a player. If I'm creating the same content piece today, it's slowed down a lot more.

It's focused on the ambient sound. The frames are easy, the cuts are simpler, and people tend to enjoy this content a lot more, the real sounds, which come from cricket, and then we mix it up with some music, and all those things also happen”“So there's a nice mix, but the larger focus is on creating content which is easy to consume, which is authentic, and storytelling has become the most important part right now, and that's what is driving the content growth on the platform. So. Yeah. So anything you do think of from the lens of storytelling, does it have a start? Does it have a mid? Does it have an end? Even a 15 second story could have those three pieces and that's challenging and exciting at the same time”Social media teams function like high-voltage poles, with wires connected to every member of the squad like a powergrid.

Every team owner likes to say their franchise is a family, a sentiment that has almost become a platitude. But if that analogy holds true, then the social media unit is the emotional heartbeat of that household—the invisible thread that binds everyone together, capturing moments, lifting moods, and reinforcing a sense of shared purpose.“We control the perception of efforts put in by the unit. At Washington Freedom now, there are kinds of efforts which the owners, the management, the coaches, support staff make that actually create the atmosphere of a family. The Family term is not thrown loosely over here, so efforts everyone puts in, but our job is to let that narrative out and let people know how everyone is bonding, and you will naturally see that through the content pieces”“I remember a lot of players talking to the owner towards the end of last season and telling him, hope we are coming back. And if a player is asking that question, that is seal of approval of the culture we built”