The flaw in the right-to-match card

For example, the bid for South African batsman Faf du Plessis was initially won by the Delhi Daredevils for Rs.4.75 crore (which might not have represented their full willingness to pay), but du Plessis's earlier employer Chennai Super Kings matched the bid at that price and bagged him.

In Wednesday's auction preview, we had mentioned that in order to get around this flaw in the auction design, "we might see a bizarre situation where only one team continues bidding on a particular player, just to dissuade his home team from using the right to match card". It appears that none of the teams noticed this flaw in the auction mechanism.

It also appears that teams didn't fully appreciate the concept of the right to match. For example, when South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis came up for auction, his former employer Kolkata Knight Riders entered the bidding, thus possibly bidding up his price, before it used a right to match card to secure his services for the next season.