08 January,2011 06:18 AM IST | | Agni Pandey
Renowned auctioneer Richard Madley, is all set to conduct the Indian Premier League auction once again over the weekend in Bangalore, albeit this time in the absence of suspended IPL boss Lalit Modi.
And the Englishmen made no bones of the fact that things would not be the same without the charismatic Modi.u00a0 "Life won't be same without Lalit Modi. No doubt he was everything," Madley told MiD DAY here yesterday.
He felt the auction for the fourth edition of the Twenty20 extravaganza would be more or less like a Test match. "I think this auction will be more like a Test match because there will be a lot of intervals like lunch break, tea break etc, this time round. Also, it will be a very conservative one," said Madley, hoping however that he received enough support from the franchise owners as has been the case in the past.
"I have received full co-operation from all the team owners during the previous auctions and I'm expecting the same this time too. The auction this time will be different because there will be no tie-breaker. Last year, Mumbai Indians picked up West Indies' Kieron Pollard in the tie-breaker. Nothing of that sort is going to happen this time," he explained.
Finally, Madley expects a seasoned approach from the team owners this time, as they are not newcomers to the process anymore.
"The owners would have been new to the auction business across the last two occasions. They went with it and spent. But this time, my gut feeling is that they will be more strategic in their bidding."
