‘Will be surprised if 20 crore barrier is not broken this year’ – Auctioneer Hugh Edmeades

Indian T20 League is an event that can make people rich. Every year, the lives of several people change while playing in the ITL. In 2020, Chris Morris earned a whopping 16.25 crores, becoming the most expensive player in the history of the league. Indian T20 League Auctioneer Hugh Edmeades believes this year, the 20 crore barrier can be broken.

“With each franchise being given an increased purse of Rs 90 crore, it is likely that individual prices will also increase. I don’t have a specific figure in mind, but I would be surprised if the Rs 20 crore barrier is not broken this year,” said Edmeades in a chat with InsideSport.

Hugh Edmeades further said that he has conducted several auctions in his four-decade career but not a single auction could last 12 hours. However, he said he is not at all unfazed by long auctions as he tries to divide the sessions into bite size pieces.

“During my 38 years as an auctioneer, I have taken plenty of two-day auctions, but admittedly, none lasting a potential 12+ hours. However, I am not at all fazed by the prospect of being on my feet for up to six hours each day. Mentally and physically, I will be splitting the sessions into “bite-size pieces” and taking the opportunities to regroup during the breaks in the auction,” concluded Hugh Edmeades.

The auction is just hours away and many fortunes will change by the end of Day 1. 

Here are the details for the mega auction:

Date: February 12 and 13

Time: 11 AM IST onwards

Live Telecast: Star Sports Network

Live streaming details: Disney + HotStar

Retained/picked players:

Chennai: Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard

Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj

Hyderabad: Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik

Rajasthan: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal

Kolkata: Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine

Delhi: Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje

Punjab: Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh

Gujarat: Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill

Lucknow: KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi

Purse remaining: