Explained: New IPL rule which makes MS Dhoni eligible to play as 'Uncapped Player'

MS Dhoni was retained by CSK for INR 12 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.

On September 28, 2024, the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council announced the retention rules for the upcoming mega auction.

The IPL GC has allowed the franchise to retain a maximum of six players through retentions and the Right To Match (RTM) option for the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Apart from this, the IPL GC has stated that the debated Impact Player rule will stay until IPL 2027. During the meeting, IPL GC took a bold step regarding the foreign players. From now onwards, overseas players have to enter the mega auction; otherwise, they won’t be allowed to enter next year’s mini-auction.

Further, the IPL GC has brought back a rule for ‘uncapped’ players that had started in 2008 but was scrapped in 2021. This has got everyone talking.

Since the conclusion of the IPL 2024 edition, there have been speculations about MS Dhoni’s future in the cash-rich league. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stumper had said he would wait for the retention policy and rules to be announced before making a final call.

MS Dhoni is now eligible to be retained as an ‘uncapped player’

In this rule, 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 been part of the starting XI in international cricket or does not have a central contract with BCCI. This rule is only for Indian players.

Firstly, since MS Dhoni last played for India in 2019, he is now eligible to be retained as an ‘uncapped’ player. This benefits CSK as the franchise can now retain Dhoni for only INR 4 crore, which is the retention price of an uncapped player.

This rule was removed in 2021 because no team had ever used it. However, in the meeting between the franchise owners and the IPL earlier this year, CSK reportedly asked for this rule to be brought back.

Notably, Dhoni was retained by CSK for INR 12 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. Now, CSK can retain him for only INR 4 crore and use the saved money on retaining a capped player or at the auction.

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