Ravi Ashwin names rule unfair for players during IPL auction

India spinner Ravi Ashwin has voiced his concern against the right-to-match (RTM) option available to teams during the IPL auction, saying that players often do not earn a fair market rate because of it.

The IPL is all set to conduct a mega-auction ahead of the league's 18th season in 2025. There has been much speculation over whether the auction is necessary and what the rules and regulations will be. Among these are the retention and right-to-match (RTM) rules.

Retentions allow teams to keep hold of players who played for them in the previous season at pre-determined salary slots. For those players who are not retained and enter the auction, the IPL has had the RTM system in place for some time now.

With an RTM card, the last team a player represented can secure the player as long as they match the highest bid the player receives in the auction. In such a case, the player will then rejoin their old team. Teams have been allotted two or three of these cards per auction in the past, but this was removed from the mega-auction in 2021 to provide the two new franchises, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, with a larger pool of players to recruit from.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, India and Rajasthan Royals spinner Ashwin voiced his thoughts against the rule.

"There is no rule more unfair for a player than RTM," he 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's say, Sunrisers. His current value is around 5–6 crores. He's 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 2 crore.

"Then, let's say, KKR and the Mumbai Indians are bidding for the player. The bid goes up to 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].

"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 6 crores. What does SRH say? 'You bought the player, right? Return the player back.'

"Very unfair. Because, at this time, SRH has to bid 6.20, the other team 6.40 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 don't get fair value in the auction."

Retention discussions often involve conversations between players and franchises about whether or not the player wishes to stay with their current team, and at what price. However, with the RTM option available, teams can repurchase players even if they are not particularly inclined to remain with their current side.

The argument in favour 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. There have also reportedly been radical suggestions from IPL owners, proposing zero retentions and eight RTM options for each team. It is likely that there will be an intermediate number of retentions and RTM options.

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