Chennai Super Kings retained captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (INR 18 crore), Matheesha Pathirana (INR 13 crore), Shivam Dube (INR 12 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (INR 18 crore) and MS Dhoni (INR 4 crore) ahead of the IPL 2025- auction . Dhoni's retention dominated the headlines and the price tag of Rs 4 crore created a lot of talk among fans and pundits. The new IPL rule means that any player who has not played for India in the last five years will be considered 'uncapped'. However, former Indian cricketers Mohammad Kaif and Sanjay Manjrekar made hilarious comments about the rule involving Dhoni.
“CSK played very well. They have saved 10 to 15 crores. I think the way this rule was brought back is because we were driven by emotions, and we all really wanted MS Dhoni to play another year… I think CSK played very smart there. Yes, he is taking less money, but it would allow CSK to buy big players at auction,” he said on JioCinema.
“I feel that 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 wouldn't have been under the uncapped player rule. These are the players who have not yet played an international match. Yeh toh chal di CSK walein bariyan. And they played it so well because we all got emotional when we got a chance to see Dhoni in IPL for another year. I think CSK had the advantage of buying two more players in the auction,” he added.
Manjrekar added that under the new rule, even Kaif and him will be considered 'uncapped' cricketers.
“This has been a reincarnation of Dhoni as this rule has been reintroduced only to bring him back. The positive thing is that even you (Kaif) are now an uncapped player and so am I,” he said.
