On Monday (February 20), the destiny of two young Indian cricketers, who had little to do with each other until then, crossed paths. One who had already been a part of the glamorous Twenty20 tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the other who had long treasured a dream to elevate himself onto the bigger cricketing map. By the end of the day, it so happened that the aspirant's dream came crashing down. Harpreet Singh Bhatia, the emerging hard-hitting Madhya Pradesh batsman who had been basking in the glory of being the highest run-getter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Inter Zonal T20 Tournament, had to pay the price for something he hadn't done.

While the player auction for IPL 2017 was about to get underway around 9.30 on Monday morning, Harpreet had been looking forward to attract bids from the franchises following his success in the domestic T20 tournament. In a parallel world, Harmeet Singh, who had once played for the Rajasthan Royals, drove his car onto the platform at the Andheri railway station accidentally. What followed next was a bizarre chain of events from Harmeet being arrested to the media reporting it with Harpreet as the central character.

All of this fiasco transpired while the auction was panning out. The reports of him being involved in a criminal case reached the auction hall, attracting the attention of the franchises. Asian News International (ANI), on its official handle, tweeted: "Under 19 cricketer Harpreet Singh detained for driving a car straight into Andheri railway station platform last night." Following this, many news organisations carried the wrong information, affecting the youngster's fortunes at the auction. The apology came late on Tuesday but by then the southpaw's chances had been dented.