Meet Mallika Sagar, under whose hammer lies fate of 574 cricketers in IPL 2025 mega auction

Mallika Sagar will once again return to her favourite place in an auction room when she conducts the Indian premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25. The 47-year-old will be conducting the IPL auction for the second consecutive time. Notably, this will her first mega auction in career.

Sagar is not new to the sports auctioneering industry. She became the first female to conduct the Pro Kabaddi League auction in 2021 before stepping into cricket where she grabbed limelight during the Women's Premier League.

Following her success in WPL auction, Sagar was included as a standby during the IPL 2022 auction, due to health concerns regarding Huge Edmeades' health. Unfortunately, Edmeades collapsed during the auction in 2022, before Charu Sharma took over.

Sagar's major break in the IPL came in the following year when she became the first female to conduct an IPL auction.

What is Mallika Sagar's background as an auctioneer?

Born to a business family in Mumbai, Sagar graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Philadephia with a degree in art history. Her first taste in auctioneering came when she got the opportunity to read a book with a senior auctioneer as its protagonist.

Post her graduation, Sagar first major project in auctioneering came in 2001 at Christie’s, which is one of the prominent international auction houses in New York City.

At 26, Sagar was assigned a job role as the international art and luxury business at Christie’s, thus becoming the first Indian woman auctioneer to do so. She later prolonged her career as an auctioneer at auction houses which included Pundole's Art Galleries in Mumbai.

At IPL 2025 auction, Sagar will call out have 574 names in the two-day event. The IPL 2025 will start at 3 PM IST which is 12:30 PM Saudi Arabian time.