MS Dhoni to play IPL 2025, gets retained as oldest uncapped player

New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) wicketkeeper batter MS Dhoni will return to play his 18^th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), CSK confirmed on Thursday, October 31.

Notably, ever since 2024, there have been widespread discussions among fans about whether Dhoni will return to play for one more season. Much to their delight, their beloved Thala has returned to enthral the fans in their ‘Anbuden’ at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Dhoni’s return was felicitated by the return of the uncapped player rule which has been re-introduced by the IPL governing council for the upcoming season.

The rule which was scrapped in the 2021, states that a capped Indian player will become uncapped if he hasn’t played international cricket in the last five years since the beginning of next season and doesn’t have a BCCI Central Contract.

"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," said IPL in a media release.

Hence, as per the rule, CSK were able to retain MS Dhoni for the price of an uncapped Player ie INR 4 Crore and didn’t take much burden on their auction purse of INR 20 Crore.

Dhoni has been playing for the ‘yellow army’ since the inception of the tournament and has led them to join record five IPL titles in the years 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023.