IPL auction day 1: From Rishabh Pant to Jitesh Sharma, how the Right-to-Match option added to the drama

November 25, 2024
2:51 am

One of the more intriguing aspects surrounding this year’s mega auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the return of the Right-to-Match option… but with a twist. The team with the highest bid has been given the additional option of naming their new price if another franchise used the RTM. This made for an interesting dynamic throughout the day, going both ways.

One witnessed it right away when Arshdeep Singh’s name came up to kick off proceedings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Arshdeep, who has risen rapidly to become India’s foremost wicket-taking pacer in T20Is, attracted intense bidding from around the room but there was a looming RTM from Punjab in the background, as they watched the bidding unfold. First CSK and DC, then came GT. RCB, RR and SRH registered their interests beyond Rs 10 crore. Finally, the winning bid was deemed to be SRH’s 15.75 crore. PBKS played their RTM as expected, and the ball was now in SRH’s court. They named their new bid as Rs 18 crore, and PBKS matched that as well and got him.

While that was a case of RTM working out for a franchise, Rishabh Pant’s bidding war brought out the other side. Pant, justifying the pre-auction prediction, eventually emerged as the most expensive player in the auction (Rs 27 crore). But not after drama and suspense. At least thrice did the auctioneer nearly close the deal (once shockingly at Rs 11.75 crore). Zaheer Khan, the LSG mentor, emptied at least a couple of water bottles. LSG got the winning bid at Rs 20.75 crore but the pre-climax twist was when DC decided to exercise the RTM, rather surprisingly. But LSG’s huddle had enough bargaining and Sanjeev Goenka decided to break the bank. He gestured Rs 27 crore. There was not to be another turn. The deal was sealed, in typical Pant style, with a maximum at the end.

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱-𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗵 🔝
Snippets of how that Historic bidding process panned out for Rishabh Pant 🎥 🔽 #TATAIPLAuction | #TATAIPL | @RishabhPant17 | @LucknowIPL | #LSG pic.twitter.com/grfmkuCWLD
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 24, 2024

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In a few other interesting uses of RTM, GT wanted their Afghanistan spin-bowling prodigy Noor Ahmad to be reunited with Rashid Khan and used the option at Rs 5 crore. But instead CSK went big by doubling their new bid to Rs 10 crore to bring Noor to Chepauk where he will now ply his trade alongside R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Then there was PBKS trying to buy back Jitesh Sharma as they played RTM at Rs 7 crore but it was RCB’s turn to up the number to as high as Rs 11 crore for the wicketkeeper batter to price Punjab out. In the uncapped sets, DC played their RTM at Rs 2 crore for J&K pacer Rasikh Dar but RCB’s massively improved bid of Rs 6 crore made them step back.

Towards the end of events on Day 1 of the IPL auction, one of the four successful RTMs was played by MI for Naman Dhir. RR’s bid of Rs 3.40 crore didn’t deter the Ambanis from playing their card but Royals took their time to increase the bid to Rs 5.25 crore. But MI’s owners were so keen to bring him back that they were ready to match the improved bid too even as the auctioneer was trying to clarify what RR’s offer was.

The dynamics of an IPL auction make for some interesting storylines every year, but the new RTM rules made things even more complicated for the franchises to get their identified targets.