Indian Premier League (IPL) fever has already begun to spread around the cricket crazy nation, India, as the player retention for the 2025 edition created enough buzz.
As the last date of submission for the player retention was October 31, the IPL franchises have submitted the list of their retained cricketers for the next season.
According to the BCCI guidelines, each of the 10 IPL teams was allowed to retain up to six cricketers, through the retention and Right To Match (RTM) option. These six retentions/RTMs needed to consist of a maximum of five capped players (both Indian and overseas) and up to two uncapped players.
The retention list of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was headlined by the legendary MS Dhoni, alongside skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, swashbuckling left-hander Shivam Dube, and Sri Lankan pace sensation Matheesha Pathirana.
By retaining the aforementioned five players, CSK subtracted a total of INR 65 crore from their overall purse of INR 120 crore. The five-time champions now have INR 55 crore left in their kitty for the next month’s mega auction, where they can use the RTM card to retain a removed player.
Notably, CSK used the uncapped player rule to retain the services of Dhoni for only INR 4 crore. Having last played for India in the 2019 World Cup, the 43-year-old fulfilled this criteria.