2018 IPL auction: Why Mumbai Indians can still use their RTM for Krunal Pandya 

After the retention ahead of the 2018 IPL auction, the franchises would have started their work to figure out the right combination going into the IPL auction, which is scheduled to take place on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru. This includes the players they want to buy, the price they have allotted for their players, on whom to use their RTM cards for etc.

Last month, the IPL Governing Council announced that the franchises are allowed to retain a maximum of five players from their previous squad and the five players can be retained in two combinations- three pre-auction retentions and two RTMs or two pre-auction retentions and three RTMs. Either way, a franchise can retain or use RTM for a maximum of three players in the auction. Even if a franchise doesn't retain even a single player before the auction, they still can't use more than three RTMs.

Adding to this, the franchises have to keep the following in mind before retaining players:

- Maximum of three Indian players.

- Maximum of two Overseas players.

- Maximum of two Uncapped Indian players.

The franchises have announced the players they are retaining going into the IPL auction. Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils have retained three players and will have two RTM cards at the auction while Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad (two retentions each), Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab (one retention each) can use a maximum of three RTM cards.

On social media, there were some confusion with respect to the uncapped Indian players on whether they come under the Indian players category or not. It has been confirmed that the uncapped players don't come under the Indian players category.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, a source close to an IPL team confirmed that "the uncapped players belong to a separate category, not the Indian players category. So, if Mumbai Indians want to use their RTM card on an uncapped player, they can still use it in spite of retaining three Indian players before the auction. Likewise, if Sunrisers Hyderabad use their RTM on two of their capped Indian players, they can still use their third RTM for an uncapped Indian player instead of an overseas player."

So, if the Mumbai Indians team management wants to use one of their two RTM cards on an uncapped player like Krunal Pandya or Nitish Rana, they can go ahead and use it on those players.