In the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, BCCI will discuss the reintroduction of the Right to Match card
The BCCI has organized a meeting of the team owners of the Indian Premier League in Ahmedabad on April 16. Simultaneously, the match between the Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera will happen. Invitations have been sent to all the owners of ten IPL franchises, with expectations that they may be accompanied by their CEOs and operational teams. However, the meeting, which is going to address important issues, is reportedly exclusive to owners. Following its absence in the 2022 mega-auction, the likely reintroduction of the Right to Match card is also under consideration.
Roger Binny who is the president of BCCI, along with secretary Jay Shah, and chairman of IPL, Arun Singh Dhumal, are expected to attend. The agenda of the meeting remains undisclosed by CEO Hemang Amin, though it’s speculated that the meeting will address policy decisions, mainly regarding the upcoming mega-auction.
It is to be noted that the number of player retention pre-auctions will be a major point of discussion, with differing opinions among the stakeholders in the IPL. While some are looking for increased retention to foster continuity and the brand strength of the team, others prefer a more limited approach.
The Right to Match card enables a franchise to acquire an unretained player who represented them in the previous edition by matching the highest bid the player receives in that auction. This option is exclusive to the mega auctions of IPL, as with constraints teams can retain only a limited number of players.
During the mega auction of the IPL 2018, teams could retain up to five players from the prior season. However, retaining fewer players granted them RTM cards, with a maximum availability of three in cases where only two players were retained.
In the 2018 IPL auction, ShikharDhawan was initially bid for by Punjab kings. He had a base price of Rs. 2 crore. Eventually, he was sold to Punjab for 5.2 crores after a bidding war involving Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians. However, upon returning to the Hyderabad franchise, Dhawan exercised his RTM card, where he had played in the 2017 IPL season.
During the IPL 2018 auctions, there were a number of players, such as Kieron Pollard, Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane, Dwayne Bravo, David Miller, and Marcus Stoinis, who were acquired by their respective franchises using the RTM card when they were sold to other teams.