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The Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction 2024 was conducted at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Tuesday (December 19). While it was an unprecedented event in more ways than one, the bidding war also witnessed a massive blunder on part of the IPL franchise Punjab Kings (PBKS) which is co-owned by Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia. In a bizarre incident, the PBKS ended up purchasing a ‘wrong player’ at the auction. By the time, those sitting at the auction table including Preity and Wadia realised the blunder they had made, auctioneer’s hammer had already gone down and consequently the player was considered sold.
The incident happened when Shashank Singh was offered to the franchises by auctioneer Mallika Sagar at a base price of 20 lakhs. While PBKS did offer an opening bid at the same price, moments after the player was declared sold they interrupted the auctioneer and seemed to suggest that they had bought the wrong player.
Take a look at the video here:
Fantastic scenes here as the notoriously inept Punjab Kings manage to not only purchase a player they didn’t want, (Shashank Singh), they also admit to this in front of literally everyone. Singh we can guess is sat at home wondering whether to show up in March. #IPLAuction #pbks pic.twitter.com/PtLQv9t07H
— Punjab Kings UK🇬🇧👑 (@PunjabKingsUK) December 19, 2023
Mallika Remains Adamant That The Player Was Sold
The interesting thing was the manner in which Mallika Sagar remained firm in her stance that the player was sold.
“It was a wrong name? You don’t want the player?” she asked PBKS after they interrupted the auction proceedings. “We are talking about Shashank Singh. But the hammer has come down. Player No. 236 and 237 both went to you.”
Despite some displeasure on their part, she said:
“I think the hammer has come down for 237 (Shashank) as well.”
Mallika achieved the distinction of being the first female auctioneer in the history of the IPL.
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