MS Dhoni to be 'uncapped' player as IPL retention rules announced ahead of mega auction

NEW DELHI: Legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be treated as an 'uncapped' player, if he wishes to feature in the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League, as the league's governing council on Saturday announced rule changes for the 2025-27 cycle.
In its meeting in Bengaluru, the governing council decided that upto six players can be retained by franchises from the existing squad before the IPL auction.
The mega auction is scheduled for later this year.
In the meet, the franchises' auction purse was also increased to Rs 120 crore for 2025 season.
One of the important highlight of the meet was the uncapped player rule, which now gives Chennai Super Kings a chance to keep Dhoni as an uncapped player in the team
According to the decision, if an Indian player who has represented the national team fails to feature in any match for the country over a span of five calendar years, they will be reclassified as an uncapped player.
Dhoni, who last played for the national team in 2019 World Cup match against New Zealand, will now be classified as an uncapped player for IPL 2025.
Here's the complete list of decisions taken in the IPL Governing Council meeting:
- The IPL franchises can retain a total of 6 players from their existing squad. This can be either via retention or by using the Right to Match (RTM) option.
- It is at the discretion of the IPL franchise to choose their combination for Retentions and RTMs. The 6 retentions / RTM’s can have a maximum of 5 capped players (Indian & Overseas) and a maximum of 2 uncapped players.
- The auction purse for the franchises has been set at INR 120 Crore for IPL 2025. The total salary cap will now consist of auction purse, incremental performance pay and match fees. Previously in 2024, the total salary cap (auction purse + incremental performance pay) was Rs. 110 Crs which will now be Rs. 146 Crs (2025), Rs. 151 Crs (2026) and Rs. 157 Crs (2027).
- A match fee has been introduced for the first time in the history of IPL. Each Playing member (Including the Impact Player) will get a match fee of INR 7.5 Lakhs per match. This will be in addition to his contracted amount.
- Any Overseas Player will have to register for the Big Auction. In case the overseas player doesn't register, then he will be ineligible to register in the following year’s player auction.
- Any player who registers in the player auction and after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, will get banned from participating in the tournament and player auction for 2 Seasons.
- 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.
- The Impact Player Regulation will continue for the 2025 to 2027 cycle.