IPL auctioneer Hugh Edmeades: ‘There are always good nerves’

Hugh Edmeades is back to conduct his fifth IPL auction. The 62-year-old collapsed midway through the mega auction earlier this year but is back with high spirits for the mini-auction in Kochi on 23 December.

Normal order is set to be restored in the mini-auction and the return of the brass gavel is all but certain. It wasn’t, however, a smooth flight for Edmeades’ brass gavel which he uses exclusively for IPL auctions. The staff at the London airport didn’t allow the auctioneer to carry his gavel in the hand-luggage and he had to place it in the check-in luggage and then again complete the necessary immigration and security checks.

“I got my ticket, went through my immigration and security and all the people there were happy with it except for their boss. So I had to go all the way back where I checked my bag in and then back to immigration and security,” Edmeades told Jio Cinema.

He had boarded the flight from London and there was a long halt in Dubai before reaching the final destination. It was a sigh of relief when the checked-in luggage came on the carousel, and also came the gavel.

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“So it was nervous moment at the Kochi airport yesterday morning as I waited for my bag to come off the carousel. It came and so did my gavel,” says Edmeades.

‘There are always nerves, nerves are good’

Edmeades admits there are nerves, but “good nerves” every time he conducts an auction and also threw light on the preparation which goes behind the stage to pull off the high-tension job.

“Basically I will study the auctioneer’s book and look at the players, look at their history and look at their form. And leading up to the auction, I would watch the IPL, like in 2022. I also watched the World Cup, Test matches. Just to get an idea of who is playing well,” says Edmeades.

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The experienced campaigner conducts a variety of auctions – ranging from fine art to classic car and charity – but feels the IPL auction has to be conducted “slower than my normal auctions”.

“IPL auction is slower normal than my normal auctions because there is so much at stake. The decision making is not individual’s but a team effort as they have eight people at the table. So if they miss out on buying one player they really want to then they go into their laptops and spreadsheets and see who else is available, and how much they can afford to spend. So there are lot of discussions amongst the franchises on each player so I can’t hurry them. I give them what I feel is enough time and raise my gavel and say ‘right time is up’ and it’s decision time now otherwise we could be here all night,” says Edmeades.

Big bid for Harry Brook

Not Ben Stokes, not Sam Curran but Edmeades expects another Englishman Harry Brook to be the most expensive player on auction day. The former England U-19 captain has already made his T20I and Test debut and was very impressive in the recently concluded Pakistan-England Test series where the right-hander hit three hundreds and one fifty in the three Tests.

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“Being an Englishman, I would like to see Harry Brook achieve a good price. He is a very talented young cricketer and he just started in the England team, and he would be in the first set at the auction. A good price is Rs 10,00,00,000+,” says

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