Follow UsArun Dhumal, the chairman of the Indian Premier League, said the Board of Control for Cricket in India haven’t introduced the uncapped player rule for retired players in the retention policy for MS Dhoni. Thanks to the newly-introduced rule, Chennai Super Kings now have an option of retaining the 43-year-old for just INR 4 crore before the IPL 2025 mega auction.
This comes after the IPL decided to bring back the rule from 2008, where Indian players who had retired from international cricket at least five years before could go into the auction as uncapped players. However, the rule was never used and was scrapped in 2021, but the franchises were made aware that the rule had been revived.
Dhoni, who played his last match for India in 2019 and officially retired in 2020, has played only in the IPL since then. According to the release from the IPL, "A capped Indian player will become uncapped if the player has in the last five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant Season is held, not played in the starting XI in International Cricket (Test match, ODI, Twenty20 International) or does not have a Central Contract with BCCI."
The franchises can retain up to six players ahead of the 2025 mega auction. The value of the first three retentions will be INR 18 crore, INR 14 crore, and INR 11 crore. The next two will be INR 18 crore and INR 14 crore. As a result, INR 75 crore will be deducted from the INR 120 crore of the overall purse. Considering Dhoni is now 43, spending so much on him wouldn’t have made any sense.
"When it comes to strategy or planning for a match, there is nobody better than Dhoni. Whether he is uncapped or capped, every franchise would want to pick Dhoni, no matter what price he is available for. I don't think so that this uncapped player is an exception for MS Dhoni," Dhumal told Rediff.
Dhunal said the new rule will also help senior players like Piyush Chawla and Amit Mishra who haven’t played international cricket for a while. "It is for all our players because so many young talents who are making it to the Indian team, but there are many senior players who are announcing their retirement from international cricket but they are fit to play.
“You have someone like Piyush Chawla still playing in the IPL or you have Amit Mishra. They have been out of the Indian team for so many years, but they have done so well in the IPL. The uncapped player ruling is for all those players who have shown passion for the game and kept themselves fit and firing to play in the IPL.”
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