MS Dhoni will be eligible to play in IPL 2025 as uncapped player but with massive pay cut | Here's how

IPL governing council announced the retention rules on Saturday (September 28) evening. Franchises have been allowed to retain up to six players and have brought back an interesting rule which makes MS Dhoni eligible to play as an uncapped player if he is retained by CSK. Here's the explanation

The Governing Council of the Indian Premier League (IPL) confirmed the retention rules for the 2025 edition of the cash-rich league. Franchises have been allowed to retain up to six players and it has been mandatory for one of them to be uncapped. At the same time, a rule instituted in 2008, allowing Indian players who had retired or were not a part of India's playing XI or didn't have a BCCI contract for the last five years to play as an uncapped player which is now likely to allow MS Dhoni to feature in at least one more season.

Interestingly, this rule was scrapped in 2021 but has been brought back again which is great news for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) if they are willing to retain their former captain. Here's what the official rule says, "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. This will be applicable for Indian Players only.

For the unversed, MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket officially on August 15, 2020, but played his last match for India on July 9, 2019, the semifinal of the World Cup against New Zealand. By the time the IPL 2025 edition gets underway, it will be five years and eight months since Dhoni played his last international match for India.

This makes him eligible to play as an uncapped player for CSK if they retain him, which is a massive possibility. However, the former India cricketer, in that case, will have to suffer a 66% pay cut in terms of his IPL salary. Dhoni was retained by CSK for Rs 12 crore ahead of the IPL 2021 mega auction but he will have to play for only Rs 4 crore. According to the rules, an uncapped player can be retained for Rs 4 crore.