(BCCI Photo)
While IPL owners are split on whether to permanently eliminate mega auctions, star offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin has voiced his dissatisfaction with the Right to Match (RTM) card. This option allows franchises to repurchase a player they released if another team bids the highest amount once the bidding concludes.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Ashwin clarifies that the RTM card primarily benefits the team that employs it rather than the player. He argues that this mechanism hinders the player from achieving their true market value during the auction.
“There is no rule more unfair for a player than RTM,” Ashwin said. “Because how has the RTM rule been so far? For example, there is a player called X. He is on a team called, let us say, Sunrisers. His current value is around Rs 5-6 crores. He has gone into the auction. Now say Sunrisers want to buy the player back. So, the Sunrisers will bid for the player at a base price of Rs 2 crore.”
“Then, let us say, KKR and the Mumbai Indians are bidding for the player. The bid goes up to Rs 6 crores and finally, they say, ‘The player is sold to the Mumbai Indians for 6 crores.’ So, with RTM, the Sunrisers will then bid for and take the player at 6 crores. The problem here is that Sunrisers are happy. But KKR and MI are unhappy. The only person (party) happy is Sunrisers. Because, in the beginning, they gave attendance bid at base price,” he added
Ashwin points out that the RTM card can frustrate other teams that have placed bids on a player, only to see them unexpectedly claimed by the original team.
“After that, there is no fair value at all. There is a bidder. The KKR and Mumbai Indians are fighting. For one of those teams, it has gone up to six crores. What does SRH say? ‘You bought the player, right? Return the player back,” Ashwin explained.
“Very unfair. Because, at this time, SRH has to bid Rs 6.2 crores, the other team Rs 6.40 crores and they should reach the fair value of the player. The problem with RTM is that it is not fair value for the player. So, if you give three RTMs (to each team), the players will only go virtually empty-handed. Already, they do not get fair value in the auction,” he concluded.
