It will not be Hugh Edmeades but a female auctioneer carrying out the auction for the inaugural edition of the Women’s IPL on February 13 in Mumbai. The BCCI has announced that Malika Advani, a Mumbai-based art collector consultant for Modern and Contemporary Indian art and partner in Art India Consultants firm, will conduct the WIPL 2023 auctions. The decision has been conveyed to all the existing WIPL franchises. The IPL auctions have been overseen by people like Hugh Edmeades, Charu Sharma and Richard Madley.
The BCCI has also announced the WIPL 2023 auction rules. According to the Board, each WIPL franchise must at least have 15 players in their squad with a maximum capping of 18 players. The teams also should at least spend INR 9 crores out of their allocated INR 12 crores during the Women’s IPL auctions. The teams will be allowed to buy a maximum of 6 overseas players.
The BCCI had earlier declared the list of players that will go under the hammer in the Women’s IPL auctions. The players will be presented under the following categories – marquee players, emerging players, batters, wicketkeepers, all-rounders, fast bowlers and spin bowlers. All the players have been slotted under 5 different base price slabs – INR 50 Lakhs, 40 lakhs, 30 lakhs, 20 lakhs and 10 lakhs.
The BCCI will also introduce the concept of strategy break during the inaugural WIPL auctions. The strategy break will be implemented after every hour for 10 minutes.
The governing body has also declared how the bidding increments will take place during the WIPL auctions in 2023. Up to INR 1 crore, the bidding increment value will be INR 5 lakhs followed by INR 10 lakhs for bids between INR 1 crore and 2 crores. An increment of INR 20 lakhs will be in place for bids between INR 2 and 3 crores. Above the bidding value of INR 3 crores, the bid increment will be at least INR 20 lakhs but the auctioneer can increase the value at her discretion.
The WIPL 2023 auction will take place from 2 PM on February 13 at Jasmine Hall, 1, JIO World Convention Centre, Mumbai. The pre-auction briefing will take place on February 12 at 8 PM.
