Mallika Sagar is the brain behind the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction, scheduled to start from Sunday, November 24 and continue till Monday, November 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The dedicated auctioneer who has spent years dealing in cricket’s biggest deals has found herself back at the helm of auctions for cricket’s most valuable league after a long time. She stands tall as a trendsetter for women in sports auctions which remain somewhat of a male bastion in more conventional domains.
Background and Education
Coming from a rather distinguished business family from Mumbai, Mallika pursued her passion for art history at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, USA. Her academic background led to an exceptional career in the field of auctioneering. She joined Christie’s, the international auction house in New York, in 2001 and quickly made a mark for herself. Mallika became the first Indian woman auctioneer at Christie’s when she was 26 years old, supervising multi-million-dollar art auctions across the world.
Art and Sports Auctioneering as a Career
Mallika had refined her art auctioning skills when she collaborated with Art India Consultants and also associated with one of the more renowned art galleries in Mumbai, Pundoles. She could easily carry over her skills from art into sports, though sports auctioneering was a new area for her.
She debuted in 2021 hosting the Pro Kabaddi League player auction, becoming a sports auctioneer and the first woman to host it. This marked a major step forward- away from stereotypes and showcasing the versatility of this woman to high-pressure environments outside of the art world.
The big success story came in 2023, when she conducted the first auction of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). That performance went on to open the doors for her to enter the IPL arena. Mallika took over the IPL auction in Kochi in December 2023 to become the very first woman to oversee an event of this magnitude in cricket. Earlier in the year, she had taken over from Hugh Edmeades during the IPL mini-auctions.
Mallika’s role in IPL Auctions
Mallika, an auctioneer, is one of the pioneering women who transformed the way auctions were held. She will conduct the IPL 2025 auction. She will host bids for hundreds of players as the teams together hold a purse of ₹641.5 crores. She is known to be calm and precise. Her concern is more about dealing with the books and all that affair of auctioning.
Her role signifies a shift in cricket’s off-field dynamics, making the sport more inclusive. As she continues to break barriers, Mallika has become a symbol of change, inspiring women to explore unconventional career paths.
Net Worth and Legacy
The net worth of Mallika is estimated to be around $15 million that translates to approximately 126 crore. The very trajectory of her career-from art auction to cricket’s biggest stages-highlights versatility and excellence. For, being a pioneer in multiple domains, she stands like an icon of the power of skill and determination in breaking the traditional molds.
