Ganesh Kendale
The much-awaited player-retention rules for the Indian Premier League (IPL) have been officially announced by the tournament’s Governing Council, and the fact that the definition of an ‘uncapped’ player perfectly fits for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to retain MS Dhoni, it has sent rumour mills in overdrive.
The truth is that the rule has not been designed but merely brought back since being scrapped in 2021.
Pertaining only to Indian players, the rule states that any player who hasn’t played international cricket or held a central contact for five years will be categorized as uncapped. A franchise is allowed to retain a maximum of two such players for Rs 4 crore each.
Dhoni fulfills both the criteria, having last played for India in the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal defeat against New Zealand.
Former India opern Aakash Chopra shed further light on the rule related to ‘uncapped’ players.
“Is this rule new? No, it is not. It was there from the time the IPL started (2008) until 2021 when it was scrapped because no franchise utilized it even once. Now it has been reintroduced, and it is clearly beneficial for Chennai Super Kings, to be honest,” said Chopra in a video on ‘X’ and his YouTube channel.
“Dhoni had very clearly stated that unless the retention rules are known, his participation (in IPL 2025) will also not be known…So the (uncapped) rule definitely benefits Dhoni and Chennai…In my mind, I am convinced Dhoni will play this (2025) season.
However, Dhoni is not the only player in that group of former India players who can be categorized as ‘uncapped’.
“Vijay Shankar, Mayank Markande, Amit Mishra, Rishi Dhawan, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Karn Sharma and Piyush Chawla are the other names that you find in the list because of this (uncapped player) rule,” Chopra revealed.
According to the IPL Player Regulations 2025-27, a franchise can retain a total of six players from their existing squad. It can include a maximum of five capped players (Indian and overseas) and a maximum of two uncapped players.
The ball is now in franchises’ court to decide who they want to retain ahead of the ‘Big Auction’, which will most likely be held at an overseas location towards the end of November.
