Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has voiced his concerns over the possible return of the Right to Match (RTM) rule ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.

The BCCI held a meeting with the franchise owners last month, focusing on several key topics before finalising the player regulations for the upcoming season. Among these topics, the reintroduction of the RTM card, a significant point of contention, has drawn considerable attention, with Ashwin being one of its critics.

The RTM rule, which allows a franchise to retain a player by matching the highest bid during the auction, was previously employed to ensure teams could hold onto their valuable players. However, this rule was removed during the 2021 mega auction to offer newer franchises, like Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), a broader selection of players.

As the BCCI considers its reinstatement, Ashwin has openly criticized the rule, arguing that it undermines the player's true market value by restricting the natural auction process.

According to Ashwin, this limitation not only impacts the financial benefits that players might gain but also restricts their freedom to choose the best environment for their career development.

"There is no rule more unfair for a player than RTM. Because how has the RTM rule been so far? For example, there is a player called X. He is on a team called, let us say, Sunrisers. His current value is around ₹five-six crores. He has gone into the auction. Now say Sunrisers want to buy the player back. So, the Sunrisers will bid for the player at a base price of 2 crore," Ashwin said on his official YouTube channel, as quoted by ANI.

"Then, let us say, KKR and the Mumbai Indians are bidding for the player. The bid goes up to 6 crores and finally, they say, 'The player is sold to the Mumbai Indians for 6 crores.' So, with RTM, the Sunrisers will then bid for and take the player at 6 crores. The problem here is that Sunrisers are happy. But KKR and MI are unhappy. The only person (party) happy is Sunrisers. Because, in the beginning, they gave attendance bid at base price," he added.

Doesn't give fair value for players

The ace-spinner said that RTM is unfair because it doesn't give fair value for the player.

"After that, there is no fair value at all. There is a bidder. The KKR and Mumbai Indians are fighting. For one of those teams, it has gone up to six crores. What does SRH say? 'You bought the player, right? Return the player back."

"Very unfair. Because, at this time, SRH has to bid ₹6.20 crores, the other team ₹6.40 crores and they should reach the fair value of the player. The problem with RTM is that it is not fair value for the player. So, if you give three RTMs [to each team], the players will only go virtually empty-handed. Already, they do not get fair value in the auction," he concluded.