No rule more unfair than RTM: R Ashwin

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is pondering over the rules and regulations around the mega-auction ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL)'s 18th season, Ravichandran Ashwin has voiced his opinion against the Right-To-Match (RTM) card. 

The BCCI has held various meetings with the franchise owners, taking their opinion on what should be the count on the maximum players a franchise should be allowed to keep combining retentions and RTM. 

Retentions allow the franchises to lock in the services of a player contracted with them in the previous season without sending him to the auction. The RTM enables the franchises to get their players back from the auction, by matching the bid at which another franchise had won the bidding war for that particular player. 

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the Indian spinner, currently contracted with Rajasthan Royals in the IPL argued that the rule is unfair for the players. 

"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 (team) 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,” he elaborated.

Ahead of the 2018 mega-auction, the teams were granted three RTMs. Meanwhile, the rule was scrapped for the 2022 mega-auction to allow the newer sides — Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans — a bigger pool of players to build their squads. 

In counter to Ashwin’s opinion, it is believed that the RTM rule grants a player his true value in the auction. Simultaneously, the franchise can also get their player back. However, it is a different story if the player doesn’t want to stay with his current team.

As the BCCI is contemplating the maximum number of players a franchise should be allowed to retain, they would also have to decide upon the number of overseas and Indian players that will be permitted under the retention and RTM policy. Reportedly, many franchises have opposed the idea of a mega-auction altogether. 

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