Experienced broadcaster Charu Sharma revealed how his unexpected but largely successful tryst with the IPL 2022 Mega Auction happened as he had to replace the original IPL auctioneer Hugh Edmeades after a worrying turn of events.
During the opening day of the two-leg IPL 2022 mega auction process in Bangalore on February 12, Edmeades fell unconscious from the dais while the bidding war for Sri Lankan allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga was going on.
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The bidding was stopped midway, and the auction was brought to a halt as Edmeades was attended immediately by the medical staff. Since the incident took place live on television, millions of fans that were glued to their sets were left extremely worried. But in positive news, it came to light that Edmeades is stable.
However, he had to remain under the medical staff’s watch for one more day, which presented Indian Premier League authorities, including chairman Brijesh Patel, a huge challenge on how to keep the auction process going. In desperate need of a saviour, Brijesh called on his friend Charu, who was thankfully present in the city.
“I don’t live too far from the hotel. So Brijesh called me and said, ‘just put on some clothes and run’… I was there in just 15-20 minutes. They briefed me for a bit and then we were on. They said they will call me soon and let me know. I am waiting for their call to know whether I need to be there today.”
Sharma told Sportstar.
Having lunch at home, Sharma wouldn’t have anticipated he would be overseeing one of the most keenly followed sporting processes in the world in the next one hour. But he adhered to Patel and IPL authorities’ need and rushed to the venue.
Over the better part of the following two days, fans were made to stand up and salute the man as he displayed outstanding proficiency at a task that he had next to no time of preparation for. Sharma brought his own character to the job and controlled the whole process seamlessly.
Speaking of the same, he mentioned he backed his experience to hold him in good stead and also talked up the longstanding structure of the IPL auction process, which gave him timely cues on how to go about his job.
“I don’t think there were too many complications in the system that were set for the auction. The auction itself has a pattern, and the rest is all structured. Once you have a structure in place, it is not very complicated.”
“But yes, still one expects certain butterflies in the stomach, but given the fact that I have done commentary stint for the past 40 years if I still have butterflies in my stomach, then when will they ever go away?”
he added.
Towards the end of the second day at the auction, Sharma accepted a huge round of applause from all the franchise officials and BCCI and IPL authorities for his great work as they also welcomed back Edmeades for the final few sets of players. Edmeades heaped rich praise on Sharma before going ahead with the remaining part of the auction.
The keenly followed two-day auction gave all ten franchises a chance to finalise their respective squads as they build up towards what promises to be a bigger and better edition of the IPL this year. The dates and venues for the event are yet to be announced but indications are that it will kick-off on March 27 in a Mumbai-Pune bubble amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
