The IPL 2024 Auction is all set to be held at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on December 19.
Excitement is building up as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Auction is all set to be held at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, UAE, on Tuesday, December 19, at 1 PM (IST).
The IPL 2024 auction pool will have 333 players, with a maximum of 77 slots (30 overseas and 47 Indian) available to be filled by the 10 franchises on Tuesday.
Well, ahead of the mini-auction, there is a lot of buzz surrounding the auctioneer, as the popular Hugh Edmeades will not be seen with the hammer on the IPL 2024 auction stage in Dubai.
In a historic move for the IPL, Mallika Sagar is set to become the first woman auctioneer to conduct the mini-auction in Dubai on Tuesday, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly already made the plan for the same.
Sagar, who held the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction for the back-to-back seasons, is set to take over from Hugh Edmeades for the upcoming event in Dubai.
Several sources within the BCCI have confirmed to Sportstar that Sagar will conduct the IPL mini-auction in Dubai. Notably, Sagar completed her major in art history at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia.
The BCCI also informed Edmeades that his services would not be needed for this edition. Notably, Edmeades collapsed due to “postural hypotension” during the IPL mega-auction in 2022, and due to this, the BCCI did not want to take any risk this time, so they roped in Mallika.
Well, Mallika Sagar, based in Mumbai, is not just an auctioneer but also an art collector and consultant. Her journey in auctioning began in 2001 at Christie's, a British auction house, where she became the first woman auctioneer of Indian origin.
While the 2023 WPL auction marked her entry into cricket, Sagar had prior experience with sports auctions, as she already made history as the first woman auctioneer for the Pro Kabaddi League in 2012.
To prepare for the WPL auction, she studied old IPL auction videos featuring Richard Madley, Charu Sharma, and Hugh Edmeades.
After successfully conducting the WPL 2024 auction, she is now set to make history as the first woman auctioneer in a men’s IPL auction.
(With Sportstar Inputs)