The preparations to the IPL 2025 mega auction have well and truly begun. The franchise owners have already held meeting with the IPL and the BCCI. As per reports, the teams would be allowed to retain a maximum of six players from their squad of IPL 2024.
The retentions could either be in the form of pre-auction retention, or through the Right To Match (RTM) facility at the auction table. However, the combination of allowed retentions through each medium is yet to be specified.
That being said, going by history, the franchises could be allowed to use a maximum of three RTM cards during the auction. Speaking on the RTM rule, Rajasthan Royals' (RR) Ravichandran Ashwin has slammed the said facility at mega auctions.
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What is the RTM rule at mega auctions in IPL?
Right To Match (RTM) rule is a facility availed by the franchise owners, where in they can buy-back their existing players from their squads of the previous year.
For instance, if RR choose to not retain Ashwin in the pre-auction list, they could still buy him by using the RTM card. That would see the Royals match the highest bid at the auction table to avail the services of the player.
The rule was scrapped in the mega auction ahead of IPL 2022. However, there are high chances that the franchises are allowed to use the very same facility, in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
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What did Ravi Ashwin say about RTM facility in IPL mega auctions?
As a logical move, the parent franchise (existing franchise) of the players do not bid on players from their existing squads. Their bid would inflate the price, should they wish to buy the player by exercising the RTM card.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin slammed the RTM facility at mega auctions. The Indian all-rounder referred to the rule as the worst rule in the IPL, from players' perspective.
There is no worse a rule for the players than the RTM. How has the RTM facility faired so far? For eg, if a player played for SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the previous season. His current value (IPL 2024) is, say 5-6 Crores. He is not retained, and so is a part of the auction pool, Ashwin explained.
Now let's say SRH wants to buy him back. In this case, the Sunrisers would bid at his base price of 02 Crores. Let us assume Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) enter the bidding war too. That sees the bidding price to 6 Crores. Now Sunrisers buy the player back, worth 6 Crores, the 37-year-old elaborated.
In such a case, SRH is happy, while KKR and MI, who had bought the player after the toil at the auction table, are not, the RR spinner concluded.
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What did Ashwin say on benefits of RTM for the players?
Ravi Ashwin has lambasted the RTM rule, saying that the players do not get a fair value for their talent and skill at the auction table. According to Ashwin, the players remain 'empty-handed' courtesy of the RTM.
The teams should keep bidding until they reach the fair values of players. The problem with RTM is that the player does not get what he deserves. If you provide three RTMs to the franchises, the players would remain empty-handed. They would not get a fair value for their skills at the auction table, Ashwin trolled the RTM rule on his YouTube channel.
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