The Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction concluded successfully on Monday in Mumbai, with the 5 franchises splashing a whopping INR 59.5 crore on 87 players at the event. It was India’s Smriti Mandhana who earned the biggest pay package, going to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 3.40 crore while India captain Harmanpreet Kaur joined Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.80 crore. Other than the players, however, even the auctioneer Mallika Sagar became a talking point for the perfection with which she conducted the auction.
Even veteran Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik took to Twitter to laud Sagar for the way she handled the auction.
“Mallika Sagar is a terrific auctioneer. Confident, clear and very poised. Straight away the right choices in the WPL. Well done @BCCI,” Karthik posted on his Twitter account.
MALLIKA SAGAR is a terrific auctioneer
Confident , clear and very poised .
Straight away the right choices in the WPL
Well done @BCCI #WPLAuction #WPL2023
— DK (@DineshKarthik) February 13, 2023
Mallika is a Mumbai-based art collector consultant for Modern and Contemporary Indian art and she currently works with Art India Consultants firm. Hugh Edmeades, Richard Madley, and Charu Sharma have conducted the auctions for Indian Premier League in the past but Advani was the first female auctioneer to be associated with such a T20 league.
During an interview ahead of the start of the auction, Mallika said: “I am very honoured to be asked and proud to be doing that. Indian women will finally get their due on the international stage, they will have the ability to play at the highest level.”
Among the overseas players, Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner fetched the joint-most money. She was bought by Gujarat Giants for Rs 3.20 crore while Nat Sciver stood neck-to-neck with her, having been bought for the same price by Mumbai Indians.
Among Indians, Deepti Sharma (INR 2.60 crore) and Jemimah Rodrigues (INR 2.20 crore) finished 2nd and third respectively.
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