The IPL 2019 auctions are just a few days away and preparations are in full swing for the same. The teams have already given out their list of players who have been released. The auction will take place on December 18. But there is a major change in the auctions this year. Richard Madley who has always conducted the auctions will not be a part of the event. Madley has been replaced by Hugh Edmeades, a charity and classic cars auctioneer with more than thirty years of experience. IPL 2019 Auction: Former Rajasthan Royals’ Jaydev Unadkat Beats Yuvraj Singh to Enter the Highest Base Price?

Richard Madley went on to inform the fans about his absence via a couple of tweets. “Sorry not to be conducting #IPL2019 auction. It’s been an honour and a privilege to have been part of #IPL from the start. Will miss my many friends and followers in #India and beyond. Thank you for the welcome you have always shown. The Hammerman," he wrote on Twitter. Yuvraj Singh to Play for CSK in the Indian Premier League 12?. 

“Thank you 🙏 for your kind wishes following the news that I am to be replaced as the #IPL auctioneer. To be clear - this was not my decision. I was not invited to conduct #IPL auction by @BCCI . In cricket terms I have been dropped.☹️☹️☹️🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳,” read another tweet.

One of the fan pages of Chennai Super Kings wished Madley and tweeted to him the statement where he said For me nothing could match the opening auction in 2008 when I dropped my hammer selling MS Dhoni for $1.5 million" Still gives us Goosebumps. Thanks for all the #Yellove memories. The former IPL auctioneer responded to the tweet and said, “Greetings to all my CSK friends who I have got to know so well. Selling @msdhoni  in IPL 1 is still a career highlight.”

It would be interesting to watch how Hugh Edmeades conducts the auctions in Jaipur for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. The IPL 2019 schedule is yet to be confirmed but most likely the tournament will start from March 29 and end somewhere in the third week of the May. IPL 2019 Auction Date and Time: BCCI Decides to Change Event Timing.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 06, 2018 09:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).