MUMBAI: Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin has expressed his concern over the right-to-match (RTM) option available to teams during the IPL auction, saying players are often not earning a fair market rate because of it.
The IPL is all set to hold a mega auction ahead of the league’s 18th season in 2025. There has been much speculation about whether the auction is necessary and what the rules and regulations will be. These include retention rules and the right to match (RTM).
Retention allows teams to keep players who played for them the previous season at predetermined salary positions. For those players who are not left out and enter the auction, the IPL has had an RTM system in place for some time now.
With an RTM card, the last team the player represented can secure the player if they match the highest bid the player receives in the auction. In such a case, the player will rejoin his old team. Teams were allocated two or three of these cards in the auction in the past, but this was removed from the mega auction in 2021 so that the two new franchises, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, would have a larger pool of players to recruit from. .
Speaking on his YouTube channel, India and Rajasthan Royals spinner Ashwin expressed his thoughts against the rule.
“There is no rule more unfair to players than RTM,” he said. “Because how was the RTM rule until now? For example, there is a player named X. He is in a team called, say, Sunrisers. His current value is around 5-6 million. He is going to auction. Now Let’s say Sunrisers want to buy back the player, so Sunrisers will be bidding for the player at a base price of 2 crore.
“Then, say, KKR and Mumbai Indians bid for a player. The bid goes up to 6 million and eventually they say, ‘The player is sold to Mumbai Indians for 6 million.’ So [with RTM], Sunrisers will bid and take the player for 6 crores. The problem is that Sunrisers are happy but KKR and MI are unhappy because they gave the attendance [base price bid] in the beginning.
“Then there is no real value at all. There is a suitor. KKR and Mumbai Indians are fighting. It has gone up to 6 crore for one of these teams. What is SRH saying? ‘You bought the player, Bring the player back.’
“Very unfair. Because at the moment SRH have to bid 6.20, the other team 6.40 and they should get the fair value of the player. The problem with RTM is that it’s not fair value for the player. So if you give three RTMs [to each team] , players will only walk away (virtually) empty-handed.
Retention discussions often involve conversations between players and franchises about whether the player wishes to remain with his current team and at what cost. However, with the RTM option available, teams can buy back players even if they are not particularly inclined to stick with their current side.
The argument in favor of the RTM option is that it allows players to stay with their current team if they wish, while earning a higher amount (determined by the market) than any potential retention. Radical proposals have also reportedly come from IPL owners who have suggested zero retention and eight RTM options for each team. It is likely that there will be moderate retention and RTM opportunities.
