Charu Sharma web

Picture Credit: Twitter

The IPL 2022 Mega Auction was different in so many ways. It had two new teams participating. The purse was increased, and the bidding war was intense. But one thing that went different and was not anticipated was the change in auctioneer for the mega event. The BCCI along with the IPL Governing Council had everything planned for the big two days but they had not foreseen their main auctioneer collapsing midway and the need to replace him with someone.

The IPL 2022 Mega Auction saw Charu Sharma conducting the major part of the event rather than Hugh Edmeades. After Hugh collapsed midway during the Day 1 Auction, everyone was worried about who will conduct the high-profile affair. There was no way it was going to be postponed as it already had been organized after overcoming so many obstacles. Luckily for the BCCI, there was the perfect replacement for Hugh, sitting ten minutes away from ITC Gardenia at his home, having lunch with his family.

ALSO READ | IPL 2022 Mega Auction Day 2 Summary: Final team squads, team captains, most expensive buys, unsold players and more 

Charu Sharma, who conducted the IPL 2022 Mega Auction to perfection despite coming on such short notice, received a call from IPL GC Chairman, Brijesh Patel. He was asked where he was and what he was doing. He was then informed that the auctioneer for the mega auction has faced a major accident and was asked to immediately reach the venue. Charu Sharma revealed the conversation he had with Brijesh Patel and quoted Brijesh Patel's exact words on the call "Just get into a suit and come to the ITC Gardenia. Let's do this."

Read the conversation between Brijesh Patel and Charu Sharma here:

Everything fell in place like it was destined!

BCCI was lucky that Charu Sharma was not out playing golf, which he usually does on Saturdays. It would be insensitive to say that luckily Charu had an accident back in October last year which forced him to stay indoors, but still, it's true.

"I was there about four months ago in early October, and I was going with some friends late at night and I took a toss and hurt my shoulder really badly. It's torn in a couple of places," Sharma told ESPNcricinfo. "I'm getting it looked at, it's still not ready yet. But if it were ready, I would have been on the golf course on a Saturday afternoon, playing a round of golf with my phone tucked away not to be looked at! But I wasn't. I was home."

Apart from this, involving someone from outside midway during the event was the biggest bubble breach. But Charu Sharma might have foreseen this and had everything ready. He was not only triple vaccinated (with the booster dose) but he had also got a negative RT-PCR test that very week.