Under the hammer

At the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction that concluded in Bangalore last week, the usual celebrities were overshadowed by the man who took centre-stage, auctioneer Richard Madley. Journalists vied with each other to shake the hand that held the gavel over the two days of auction and sold millions of dollars worth of cricketers (and attracted some controversy too). Madley has been using the same gavel that he had bought in London for the seven auctions that he has conducted for IPL.