The suggestion might just solve a major issue for the players as well as the franchises.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recently lifted their third Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) title after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the summit clash.
The KKR unit has looked like a formidable force and the management has in different ways expressed the desire to have the same team in the future seasons as well.
However, with a mega-auction in the pipeline ahead of the IPL 2025 season, it doesn’t seem plausible that KKR will be able to retain quite a few players.
In the earlier mega auctions, teams were restricted to retaining only 3 to 5 players.
While a mega-auction presents a chance for teams that have not performed well to reconstruct their squads, established teams like KKR may rue it.
Additionally, there is an increasing notion that many players would prefer to enter the auction pool rather than being retained by their franchises as this could lead to more lucrative contracts.
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Echoing on the same lines, cricket commentator and analyst Harsha Bhogle has highlighted an interesting idea put forth by KKR CEO Venky Mysore which might just solve the issue for the players as well as the franchise.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Bhogle revealed, “Venky Mysore of KKR has come up with a workable suggestion which is that you should be allowed to retain players if they have a fair market value. So no retentions but eight Right to Match cards.”
However, the number of retentions and RTMs for the IPL 2025 mega-auction has not yet been finalised by the IPL committee.
In the 2022 mega auction, teams were prohibited from using RTM (Right to Match) cards due to the introduction of two new teams, the Gujarat Titans and the Lucknow Super Giants. Nonetheless, teams had utilized RTM cards in the previous mega auctions held in 2014 and 2018.
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