Vijay Shankar represented the country in 12 ODIs and 9 T20Is between March 2018 and June 2019.
As many as 359 players, featuring 245 Indians and 114 from overseas, will be up for grabs in the IPL 2026 mini-auction, slated to be held in Abu Dhabi on December 16
Earlier on Tuesday (December 9), the BCCI unveiled a trimmed down list of 350 players from over 1300 registrations. A few hours later, the board released a revised list featuring nine more names.
Of the 359, 244 are uncapped, including India all-rounder Vijay Shankar, who represented the country in 12 ODIs and 9 T20Is between March 2018 and June 2019. He was also part of India’s ODI World Cup squad in 2019. So, the question arises why has he registered himself as an uncapped Indian?
It has to do with a rule IPL introduced ahead of the mega-auction last year. As per the rule, the Indian players who haven't played international cricket in the last five years or don't hold a BCCI central contract will be considered uncapped.
This rule also allows franchises to retain players at the lower base price of an uncapped player, which was INR 4 crore for the 2025 season, benefiting teams like CSK in retaining a legend like MS Dhoni.
“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," states the rule.
Since Shankar’s last appearance for India was in June 2019, he has become eligible to register himself as an uncapped Indian player for the upcoming IPL auction.
Vijay Shankar, 34, played for CSK in the IPL 2025 season after being signed for Rs 1.2 crore at the mega-auction. He managed to score 118 runs from five innings at a strike rate of 129.67 as CSK finished at the bottom of the standings. He was among the 11 players released by the five-time champions last month.
Apart from CSK, Shankar has turned up for DC, SRH and GT in the IPL. He has amassed 1233 runs at a strike rate of 129.78 in the cash-rich league, including seven half-centuries, besides claiming 9 wickets with his medium pace.