File photo of IPL trophy© BCCI
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already announced the retention rules for the franchises. The final date for the sides to submit their picks is October 31. Each franchise could retain a maximum of six players with the Right-To-Match (RTM) option included in it. However, there has been a change in the traditional RTM process about which the franchises have reportedly made an official complaint to the BCCI. The franchises claimed that the RTM rule change would fail to serve the purpose for which it was initially introduced.
As per the old method of RTM, an original team of a player could retain him using RTM card by matching the last bid put on the player at the auction. This used to help the original team retain the player at auction that too at his right market value. However the new changes give the team with last bid a chance to increase the amount to an arbitrary value, in case the original team wants to use RTM option.
If Team 1 holds the RTM for Player X and Team 2 has placed the highest bid of Rs. 6 Cr, then Team 1 will be first asked if they will exercise RTM, if Team 1 agrees, then Team 2 will have the chance to increase their bid. If Team 2 raises their bid to Rs. 9 Cr, then Team 1 can use the RTM and acquire Player X for Rs. 9 Cr. If Team 2 chooses not to raise the bid and keeps it at Rs. 6 Cr, Team 1 can use the RTM and get Player X for Rs. 6 Cr.
"The franchises argue that the essence of the RTM is to establish a player's market value, and this purpose is not served when a franchise is required to match an arbitrarily raised bid. As clarified by the BCCI, the increase can be any amount, which diminishes the value of the incremental bid at that stage," said Cricbuzz in a report.