When the BCCI announced the retention guidelines for the IPL 2025 season, it brought in the uncapped player rule to allow franchises to retain Indian cricketers who haven’t played international cricket for the past five years.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) made the most of this rule as they retained the legendary MS Dhoni for INR 4 crore ahead of the mega-auction. Having last played for India in the 2019 World Cup, the 43-year-old fulfilled this criteria.
In a conversation with former India batter Ambati Rayudu, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan talked about Dhoni's potential last match in Chennai as he said the former skipper can play for the franchise as long as he wants to.
"As far as Mahi bhai (brother) is concerned, you know he keeps everything to himself. It comes out at the last moment only. Knowing the passion he has for CSK, and also knowing the following he has, and he also mentioned in one of the interviews that he'll play his last game in Chennai, we're hoping that he will continue as far as CSK is concerned. As long as MS wants to play, the doors are open. Knowing him, his commitment, and his dedication, I'm sure he'll always take the right decision," said Viswanathan as a part of a discussion on Provoke TV.
Besides Dhoni, CSK retained the services of skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (INR 18 crore), veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (INR 18 crore), swashbuckling left-hander Shivam Dube (INR 12 crore), and Sri Lankan pace sensation Matheesha Pathirana (INR 13 crore) ahead of the mega auction.
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 grand auction, where they can use the RTM card to retain a removed player.
The CSK CEO was pleased that the franchise managed to retain the core without any hassle.
"As always, you (Rayudu) know better than me about the culture at CSK in the sense that we have always tried to have the core of the team. Initially, we had conversations with both Ruturaj the captain and also MS along with Fleming before we decided on the retentions. And, we were very clear that the players would help the team to grow, (those) who had stabilized the team in the previous years. It was very easy to decide on the retentions. Ruturaj, Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) who has had a great impact on CSK, and MS you don't have to talk about, and Shivam Dube which we had groomed and MS had groomed," Viswanathan remarked.
"So, we thought we should stick with them. As all of us know, Pathirana is going to be a bowler who is going to be really useful for any team he goes (to), so we thought he'll be another one whom we can retain," he added.
