Who Is Mallika Sagar? All You Need To Know About WPL 2024 Auctioneer

The player auction for the second season of the Women’s Premier League will take place in Mumbai on Saturday (December 9). A total of 165 players will go under the hammer. Five franchises—the Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, UP Warriorz, and Gujarat Giants—will sign players ahead of the start of the second season of the Women’s Premier League.

Out of the 165 players who will be auctioned on Saturday, 104 are Indians and 61 belong to overseas nations. No player from Pakistan is allowed to enter the player auction, but as many as 15 players from the associate nations will go under the hammer. 109 are uncapped players, and 56 of them have represented their country. The five franchises will have a total of 30 slots to fill. Gujrat Giants can signed maximum number of 10 players.

For the second year in a row, the WPL auction will be conducted by Mallika Sagar.

Mallika is a Mumbai-based art collector and consultant for modern and contemporary Indian art. She currently works with Art India Consultants. Hugh Edmeades, Richard Madley, and Charu Sharma have conducted the auctions for the Indian Premier League in the past, but Mallika has been the BCCI's auctioneer in the WPL since the league's inception.

Mallika was also a part of the auction in the Pro Kabaddi League back in 2021. There are rumours that Sagar will replace Edmeades as auctioneer for the upcoming IPL 2024 auction.

Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu, the West Indies’ Deandra Dottin, and Kim Garth of Australia are likely to be the top picks in the WPL 2024 auction.

Dottin, who was controversially released by the Gujarat Giants on the eve of the WPL-1 earlier this year, and her replacement Garth are the only two players who are part of the Rs 50 lakh bracket.

Four players—Amy Jones (England), Shabnim Ismail (South Africa), Georgia Wareham (Australia), and Annabel Sutherland (Australia)—have been categorised into the 40-lakh bracket.