Chennai Super Kings retained five players – captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs. 18 crore), Matheesha Pathirana (Rs. 13 crore), Shivam Dube (Rs. 12 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs. 18 crore) and MS Dhoni – ahead of the mega auction next month, leaving them with one RTM option and a purse of Rs. 55 crore.
MS Dhoni, former CSK and India captain, has been retained for mere Rs. 4 crore by the IPL franchise.
Ahead of the IPL retention deadline (October 31) and the mega auction that is planned for late November, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had revised rules for uncapped players.
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Previously, uncapped players were defined as those who had never played for their national team. The new rule now allows retired or out-of-favour Indian cricketers to be categorised as uncapped players. The rule existed from 2008 until 2021 but was not utilised during that period. It was brought back earlier in the year.
An Indian player is now defined as ‘uncapped’ if they have not played any international match or had a BCCI central contract in the last five years. This change allows teams to strategically retain such players, including Chennai Super Kings, who kept MS Dhoni’s services for the lowest valuation of Rs. 4 crore.
Dhoni had last played for India in the 2019 ODI World Cup and retired in 2020; he only participates in the IPL.
Other players that were eligible for this rule included Sandeep Sharma of Rajasthan Royals, Vijay Shankar and Mohit Sharma of Gujarat Titans, and Piyush Chawla of Mumbai Indians.
‘CSK saved Rs 10-15 crore’
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Speaking to Star Sports on Thursday, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif said that CSK played the ‘uncapped player’ rule smartly, which helped them save close to Rs. 15 crore.
“CSK have played really well. They have saved 10-15 crores. I feel that the way this rule was brought back because we were driven by emotions, and we all really wanted MS Dhoni to play another year…I feel CSK played very smartly there. Yes he is taking less money, but it would allow CSK to buy big names players at the auction,” he said.
However, he did not seem to be in support of the retention rule that allowed Dhoni to continue his IPL career, stating that the true meaning of an uncapped player is one who hasn’t played international cricket.
“I feel whichever player plays for India, I was 36 when I last played an international match for India… now if I get dropped from the team, but continue to have a good IPL run, then I should not have come under the uncapped player rule. These are those players who have not played an international match yet. Yeh toh chaal chal di CSK waalo ne. And they played it so well, because we all became emotional, having to get the opportunity to see Dhoni for another year in IPL. I feel CSK got the advantage of buying two extra players at the auction,” he added.
Sanjay Manjrekar jokingly said the revised rule allowed himself and Kaif to be eligible for IPL in the future.
“This has been a reincarnation of Dhoni because this rule has been re-introduced only to bring him back. The positive thing is even you (Kaif) are an uncapped player now and so am I,” he said.
