IPL 2018 players auction: What's RTM, how much money teams have and more; explained
![578 cricketers are in with a chance to make moolah at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 players auction in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28. (Photo: BCCI) 578 cricketers are in with a chance to make moolah at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 players auction in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28. (Photo: BCCI)](https://images.deccanchronicle.com/dc-Cover-mn1aovj93p7hib4rg4btmrp965-20180122155419.Medi.jpeg)
Mumbai: While the e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart are busy spoiling the consumers and making money with their Great Indian Sale and The Republic Day Sale respectively, come January 27 and January 28, 578 cricketers are in with a chance to make moolah at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 players’ auction in Bengaluru.
Read: IPL auction 2018: Complete list of players franchises can retain via RTM
Although the previous IPL auctions have witnessed big money being spent and players getting richer in space of few hours, this year’s auction, which happens to be the tournament’s eleventh edition, will be one of the biggest players’ auctions in the history of IPL. While over 1000 players displayed their interest to be a part of the bidding, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pruned the list to 578 players.
While a lot of drama is expected to unfold during the two-day auction, with teams being involved in a tug of war over some of the biggest and brightest upcoming cricketers. The teams have already announced the names of the players they wanted to retain (maximum three players per team) ahead of the auction and while majority of the players are part of the auction, the teams can still retain the core by using the Right to Match (RTM) card(s) during the auction.
Read: IPL 2018 players’ auction: Here’s the list of all 578 cricketers and their base price
Let’s find out what’s RTM and how many RTMs each team can use:
What’s RTM?
In simple words, RTM is a chance offered to all eight IPL teams to retain a certain player or players who they could not retain during the pre-auction retention. A team can retain a player, who played for them but was not retained before the auction, during the auction by matching the bid another team put in place for him.
For example: Yuzvendra Chahal, who played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB0 in the previous edition of the tournament, was not retained by RCB before the auction. However, the team can still have him back. If let’s say, Mumbai Indians (MI) bid for the leg-spinner, RCB have the right to use their RTM and make him a part of the RCB squad, by matching the price MI bid for him.
List of players retained before the auction by each franchise and RTMs left at each team’s disposal:
1) Mumbai Indians (MI):
Players retained before the auction:
Rohit Sharma (Rs. 15 crore), Hardik Pandya (Rs. 11 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (Rs. 7 crore)
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 2
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 0
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for capped international players: 2
Money spent and money left at the auction:
Money spent: Rs. 33 crore
Money left: Rs. 47 crore
2) Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB):
Players retained before the auction:
Virat Kohli (Rs. 17 crore), AB de Villiers (Rs. 11 crore), Sarfaraz Khan (Rs. 3 crore)
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 2
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 1
RTMs left for capped international players: 1
3) Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH):
Players retained before the auction:
David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 3
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for capped international players: 1
4) Kings XI Punjab (KXIP):
Player retained before the auction:
Axar Patel
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 3
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for capped international players: 2
5) Chennai Super Kings (CSK):
Players retained before the auction:
MS Dhoni (Rs. 15 crore), Suresh Raina (Rs. 11 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs. 7 crore)
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 2
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 0
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for capped international players: 2
6) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
Players retained before the auction:
Sunil Narine, Andre Russell
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 3
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 3
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for capped international players: 0
7) Rajasthan Royals (RR):
Player retained before the auction: Steve Smith
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 3
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 3
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for capped international players: 1
8) Delhi Daredevils (DD):
Players retained before the auction:
Rishabh Pant (Rs. 15 crore), Chris Morris (Rs. 11 crore), Shreyas Iyer (Rs. 7 crore)
Right to Match card(s) scenario:
Total RTMs left: 2
RTMs left for capped Indian players: 1
RTMs left for uncapped Indian players: 2
RTMs left for capped international players: 1
Money spent on pre-auction retention and money left at auction:
Mumbai Indians:
Money spent: Rs. 33 crore
Money left: Rs. 47 crore
RCB
Money spent: Rs. 31 crore
Money left: Rs. 49 crore
SRH
Money spent: Rs. 21 crore
Money left: Rs. 59 crore
KXIP
Money spent: Rs. 12.5 crore
Money left: Rs. 67.5 crore
CSK
Money spent: Rs. 33 crore
Money left: Rs. 47 crore
KKR
Money spent: Rs. 21 crore
Money left: Rs. 59 crore
RR
Money spent: Rs. 12.5 crore
Money left: Rs. 67.5 crore
DD
Money spent: Rs. 33 crore
Money left: Rs. 47 crore