KKR and Rajasthan Royals won’t be able to exercise the RTM option during the auction. Here’s all you need to know about the updated right-to-match card.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction is almost here. The two-day event will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25. This is just the second time that the auction is being conducted outside India. The previous auction was also held in Dubai. A total of 574 players are up for grabs in Jeddah. Out of these 574, 48 are capped Indians while 193 are overseas capped players. All the ten franchises retained 46 players in total, prior to the auction, hence only 204 slots are required to be filled.
File image of an IPL auction. (HT Photo)
Each IPL team can have a maximum of 25 players in their squad. Every franchise can have a maximum of eight overseas players in their lineup.
The likes of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Jos Buttler, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, are all part of Marquee Sets, and every one of these players have set their base price as INR 2 crore.
Here is all you need to know about the IPL mega auction:
What is right-to-match (RTM) card?
The RTM rule is being introduced for the first time after 2018. This will allow teams to bring back a player from their previous season squad into their lineup. However, this option can only be exercised by those teams which didn’t use their full quota of six player retentions ahead of the auction.
A team can exercise the RTM card to match the highest bid placed on a player who was a part of their squad during the previous season. But there’s a catch.
In the IPL auction, if a particular franchise exercises the RTM option, then the other franchise who is involved in the bidding war, will be allowed one more chance to raise the bid for the player.
If the team with the RTM option then decides to match that final bid, it will retain the player in question. However, if the original team opts out, then the bidder will have the player. The RTM card, however, will be restored for the team that loses out.
Which teams can’t exercise RTM option in the auction?
Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals cannot exercise the RTM option since they retained their full quota of six players. All the other franchises do have the option of RTM up their sleeve.
What is accelerated auction?
It is important to mention that while there are 574 players up for the taking at the auction, it is not necessary that all of them are presented. This is where the process of accelerated auction comes in. This particular process will begin after 116 players have been presented during the bidding.
The accelerated auction will start with Indian player Ricky Bhui (uncapped batter), who is the 117th mention on the list. The accelerated process will be held in two phases.
When it comes to the first phase, all the franchises will be asked to nominate the players (from 117 to 574) they want to be presented during the auction.
The second phase of the accelerated auction which will be held on Monday, November 25, will have all the unsold/unpresented players from the full list of 574 that franchises want to be presented again.
What are Marquee Sets?
There are two Marquee Sets, and the players in these sets will be presented first at the auction. Each marquee set contains six players each. The likes of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc are a part of Marquee Sets.
The other lists in the auction are capped batters, capped bowlers, uncapped batters, uncapped bowlers, capped fast bowlers, capped spinners, and so on.
What are the auction timings?
The IPL mega auction will start at 3:30 PM IST. The first session, which will see players in Marquee Sets, going under the hammer, will be held until 5 PM IST. After this, there will be a 45-minute break.
The final session of the auction session will be held from 5:45 PM to 10:30 PM IST.
