IPL 2025 mega auction: No RTM option for Kolkata Knight Rider and Rajasthan Royals; HERE's why

While other teams have the 'Right to Match' option, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals can't use it in the IPL 2025 mega auction. This is due to retaining six players pre-auction. However, like other teams, KKR and RR have started planning their auction strategy.

The 'Right to Match' rule, introduced in IPL 2018, allows teams to retain players from the previous season. Only teams that haven't retained six players pre-auction have this option. Using RTM, a team can match the highest bid for their former player. Other teams can then increase the bid, and the original team can choose to match again to retain the player.

The IPL 2025 mega auction began Sunday at 3:30 PM. The marquee player auction will last for 90 minutes. After a 45-minute break, the auction resumes at 4:45 PM and continues until 10:30 PM. Mallika Sagar will conduct the auction. 

Remaining purse value for each team is after deducting retained player costs from the initial Rs 120 crore before the IPL 2025 mega auction.

KKR retained players: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh. Rajasthan Royals retained players: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma.

577 cricketers, including 210 overseas and 367 Indian players, are participating in the auction. A total of 204 players, with 70 overseas slots, will be bought by the 10 teams. Initially, 1574 players registered, but the final list was trimmed to 577.