The once anxious hearts and souls of the Anbu-Den’s devotees brimmed joy and jubilation as CSK fans didn’t hide their excitement in the announcement of the return of the uncapped player rule in the recently issued IPL Players Regulations for the years 2025-27.
The idea of being able to keep hold of the legendary figure of MS Dhoni for at least another season brought both relief and anguish to the supporters of Chennai.
However, nothing solid has yet come out of CSK reaching out to the guru and neither has any news of Dhoni himself corroborating any such reports. So then, the question crops up: Did the supporters exult a bit too much too soon?
Prior to the commencement of the mega intake on players that was set for 2025, the Council that Governed the League released new rules regarding players with teams being allowed to keep as much as six players only who are capped to a maximum of five players and two players without caps whether by retention or the Right To Match option.
Of course, the news that was sweetest to them all and specifically to the Chennai Super Kings, came in the seventh point which pointed out that Indian players could be considered as uncapped players as long as they have not taken part in any international matches over the last 5 years.
And why is this pleasant to the supporters of CSK? Well because this means that MS Dhoni, the much loved mascot of CSK, who last represented India many moons ago in July, 2019 will be deemed as an uncapped player in the forthcoming mega auction which makes the task of keep retaining ‘Thala’ much more easy, and cost-effective for the franchise.
Though the outlook sosed some worrisome details with kasi vishwanathan CEO of CSK being mentioned.
In a standing interview with TOI, he even pointed out that it was still “too early” for the franchise to make plans with MS Dhoni being part of them, adding that no contact had been made with him as yet.
“For now, we can’t say for sure. We might not even use it for MS Dhoni. This is still too early to comment on this matter because we haven’t had discussions with him,” said Kasi Viswanathan to TOI.
“Dhoni was in the US and we haven’t had discussions yet. Now I am traveling this week so there are chances of a few discussions in the upcoming week. There could be clarity then,” Kasi reinstated.
‘We are optimistic of him playing but it’s a call which Dhoni will himself take’.
It goes without saying but this will be of utmost importance to CSK and (even more) the IPL as a business that they somehow make sure that Dhoni does not get released for any reason.
Dhoni himself, however, stated that he was going to take a wait and see position as to how the rules would be framed before deciding if he wanted to play again.
And so, the supporters of CSK are left in suspense as the last day for the IPL teams to make their retention to be announced as of 31st October for now, to see if indeed ‘Anbu-Den’ Chepauk shall see yet another ‘Thala-darisanam’..
