IPL 2025: Arun Dhumal breaks silence on MS Dhoni being in 'uncapped category' for mega auction

IPL chairman Arun Dhumal has broken the silence on the new rule for the tournament which will allow MS Dhoni to play as an uncapped player in the next Indian Premier League season for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Recently, the IPL governing council had a meeting and decided upon the various rules and regulations for the next IPL auction. The council took the pieces of advice received by the franchise owners during their meeting with the BCCI officials in July.

One of the changes made by the IPL was to bring back a rule that allowed the Indian players to go into an auction as uncapped players if they had retired from international cricket at least five years before the relevant season.

"A capped Indian player will become uncapped if he has, in the five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant season is held, not played in the starting XI in international cricket and does not have a central contract with BCCI. This will be applicable for Indian players only," an IPL media release read.

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Arun Dhumal breaks silence on MS Dhoni for IPL 2025

During an exclusive interview with the Indian Express, Arun Dhumal spoke about MS Dhoni being retained in the team as an uncapped player. Since Dhoni has already retired five years ago before the relevant season, he will be eligible to play an uncapped player.

Arun Dhumal reckoned that it does not matter whether Dhoni is retained as a capped or an uncapped player. According to him, players like Dhoni will always be the first-choice players for any team.

"Player like MS Dhoni, it is immaterial whether he is uncapped or capped. He would anyway be the first target for any franchise," Dhumal said.

The price to retain the uncapped players is INR 4 crore and it will help the Chennai Super Kings to retain their talismanic player for a lower price. Hence, they will have more purse to make a solid team for the next seasons.

IPL brings back old rule

The rule started in the IPL's inaugural edition in 2008 but was scrapped in 2021. However, the IPL governing council had a detailed discussion on the uncapped players and decided to bring back the rule.

MS Dhoni's last international match was in the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. A year later, he announced his international retirement officially but has kept on playing the IPL since.

Despite suffering several injuries, MS Dhoni has continued to play the IPL for years now. He mostly bats in the lower order now around the No. 8 spot and concentrates on hitting big shots from the first ball.

MS Dhoni was retained as the second player by CSK for INR 12 crore before the IPL 2022 mega auctions. The first player to be retained by the franchise was Ravindra Jadeja for INR 16 crore. The other two retained players were Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad for INR 8 crore and INR 6 crore respectively.