The IPL Governing Council has announced the retention policy for the mega auction before IPL 2025. This time, there will be several big changes in the IPL. During the meeting on Saturday, September 28, important decisions were made, including the return of the Right to Match (RTM) card. However, the rules for using the RTM card have been changed to benefit players.
How Will the Right to Match Card Be Used?
Before IPL 2025, all teams can retain up to 6 players, including those who use the RTM card. Each franchise can keep a maximum of five capped players (Indian or foreign) and two uncapped players. If a team retains 6 players before the auction, it will not have an RTM card for the auction.
If a franchise retains five players, it will have one RTM card. This card allows the franchise to bring back one of its current players when they go to auction. So, the fewer players a franchise retains, the more RTM cards they will have to use in the auction.
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Changes to the Rules for Using the Right to Match Card
The IPL Governing Council has also changed the rules for using the RTM card, which directly benefits players. Before, teams used the RTM card by matching the highest bid for a player in the auction to bring them back to their team. Now, the team that places the highest bid will get a chance to increase their bid one more time if the original team wants to use their RTM card. If the original team uses the RTM card after this, the player will go to them.
For example, if Travis Head is being auctioned and CSK bids ₹6 crores, Sunrisers Hyderabad (his current team) will be asked first if they want to use their RTM. If Sunrisers agrees, CSK will get one more chance to increase their bid. If CSK raises their bid to ₹10 crores, Sunrisers can then use their RTM to sign Travis for ₹10 crores again.