"Give the option to the player" - Ravichandran Ashwin wants RTM rule to be changed ahead of IPL 2025 auction
Team India's veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin questioned the Right to Match (RTM) rule ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction. He believes that the player should have the final say when a franchise uses the RTM card.
The RTM card was a provision made available to the franchises during the auction, allowing them to match the winning bid made by other teams for players released by them.
Expressing his reservations over the rule, here's what Ashwin said on Kris Srikanth's YouTube channel:
"If a franchise has released a player because they don't see him in their top four or five, then what gives them the right to jump in during an auction?"
Proposing a change, Ravichandran Ashwin suggested that the player should be the one deciding if he was okay with the franchise using the RTM card for him. He added:
"You give the option to the player asking if he wants to be right to match. There should be a contract binding the two parties, which says he can be RTMed only if the price is X amount and leave that pre-determined amount to be decided by the player."
It is worth mentioning that the RTM rule was not part of the previous mega auction, which was held ahead of the 2022 season. The decision was made considering that there were two new teams - Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). However, the rule is expected to be implemented once again for the next auction.
"There's an opportunity for innovation and it makes the game fairer" - Ravichandran Ashwin on the Impact Player rule
In the aforementioned video, Ravichandran Ashwin also gave his take on the Impact Player rule. While the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have shared their apprehensions over the rule in the past, Ashwin reckoned that it makes the game fairer.
Mentioning the pros of the rule, the 37-year-old said:
"Why I think the Impact Player rule is not so bad is because it gives a little more value for strategy. The other side of that argument is it doesn't encourage all-rounders. But no one is stopping them. In this generation, they don't do it [batters bowling and vice-versa]. It's not like they're discouraged because of the Impact Player rule. Look at Venkatesh Iyer, he's currently rocking for Lancashire. There's an opportunity for innovation and it makes the game fairer."
Ravichandran Ashwin has represented teams like Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the past. He has been a part of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) since IPL 2022.