The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced the retention rules for IPL 2025, and one key element of the announcement has a significant impact on Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Under the new rules, any cricketer who hasn’t represented India in the past five calendar years will be classified as ‘uncapped,’ which reduces the retention cost for such players. This rule now applies to former India captain MS Dhoni, allowing CSK to potentially retain him for Rs 4 crore ahead of the auction.
However, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan made a notable statement regarding Dhoni’s future in the IPL. He mentioned, “We are not sure at this stage. We might not even use this rule for MS Dhoni. It’s still too early to say since we haven’t had discussions with him yet. Dhoni was in the US, and I’ve been travelling, so we’ll probably talk about it in the coming week. We hope he continues to play, but ultimately, it’s Dhoni’s decision to make.”
Despite Dhoni’s retirement from international cricket in 2020, his last match for India was in July 2019, during the ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. The BCCI’s new rule states that a capped Indian player will be considered uncapped if they haven’t played in the starting XI of any international cricket match (Test, ODI, or T20I) or held a Central Contract with the BCCI in the last five calendar years.
