- Monday, April 29, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE mega auction of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 kicked off in Bengaluru in the southern Indian state of Karnataka on Saturday (12) and the first day remained witness to an unfortunate incident as the auctioneer Hugh Edmeades collapsed on the stage during the proceeding which brought things to a halt for a while.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) later said that he was stable and would return to the auction. The 63-year-old Edmeades is a veteran British auctioneer in international fine art, classic car and charity and his career has spanned over three decades. He replaced Richard Madley as the IPL auctioneer in the 2019 edition.
Edmeades’ fall was reportedly caused by postural hypotension, a form of low blood pressure that happens when one stands up from sitting or lying down. The incident happened when bidding was going on for Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.
#IPLAuction eer #HughEdmeades has collapsed..
Hope he is safe.. pic.twitter.com/eTz9uh4PVV
— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) February 12, 2022
Cricket commentator Gautam Bhimani later said in a tweet that Edmeades had no internal issues and the fall was just a physical one.
Update from ground zero! Hugh Edmeades the auctioneer is fine but a bit shaken! Was a physical fall no internal issues with him #CricbuzzLive
— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) February 12, 2022
“The IPL auctioneer is stable, the medical guys are looking at him. He should be back for the mega auction in the next set,” the BCCI media manager informed before a virtual press conference involving owners of the Lucknow and Rajasthan franchises. Later, the BCCI said veteran cricket commentator and analyst Charu Sharma would replace Edmeades as the auctioneer for the day.
“Since the doctors are monitoring him, it has been decided to bring in Charu Sharma as an alternative. Charu has previous experience of holding auctions across disciplines,” Sportstar quoted a board official as saying.
The first day of the auction saw some big buys including that of Shreyas Iyer by last year’s runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping rupees 12.25 crore (£1.19 million). Harshal Patel was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore for rupees 10.75 crore (£1.04 million). India all-rounder Deepak Hooda, who made his international debut against the West Indies in the just concluded one-day international series, was bought by new franchise Lucknow Super Giants for rupees 5.75 crore (£560,156).
India pacer Mohammed Shami was picked up by Gujarat Titans, another new team making its debut this year, for rupees 6.25 crore (£608,865).
Some big names such as Suresh Raina, Steve Smith and Shakub Al Hasan remained unsold and their names would be floated again.
