The veteran off-spinner for the Indian team and a regular member of the side in the longest format of the game, Ravichandran Ashwin, has opened up on the speculated news of his former captain in the league for the Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni, being involved in the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), as an uncapped player.
A few days ago, during the meeting between all the owners of the franchises and the governing body of the league, the Yellow management threw the idea of activating the old rule where a retired player, having not played for more than five years, could come into the scene as an uncapped player.
According to the report from ESPNcricinfo, CSK suggested to the governing council and the other owners to bring the rule back so that MS Dhoni, who retired from international cricket on August 15, 2020, could play as an uncapped player in the upcoming season of the tournament.
“Can a player like MS Dhoni play as an uncapped player?”- Ravichandran Ashwin
The former captain of the franchise, MS Dhoni, has helped the Super Kings win five trophies, with the recent one coming in the 2023 season against the Gujarat Titans. The very next season saw him handing over the captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad, who led the side in the IPL 2024.
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They did so well in the tournament, but a defeat in the last game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the group stage saw them being ruled out of the playoffs. MS Dhoni was mostly used as an aggressive lower-order batter by the management, as he smashed 161 runs in 11 innings, at an average of 53.66 and a strike rate of 220.54, besides notching up 14 boundaries and 13 over-boundaries.
Ashwin batted safely while speaking on the news of whether it would be right for the former World Cup-winning captain to play as an uncapped player in the upcoming season of the IPL.
“Will Dhoni play as an uncapped player? That’s a big question mark. The point is correct. He hasn’t played international cricket for many years. He has retired. So, he is an uncapped player.” The experienced spin all-rounder expressed this in a video shared on his YouTube Channel.
“He is not a capped player. Can a player like MS Dhoni play as an uncapped player? That is another conversation. If someone talks about Dhoni, everyone will talk about it.” He remarked.
The wicket-keeper has retained INR 12 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, and if he now goes with the tag of an uncapped player as per the rules of the previous few editions, then his price will come down to INR 4 crore.
Another report on ESPNcricinfo also advised that the franchises are not happy with players pulling out before a season at the eleventh hour. They all agreed on the development and requested a two-year ban on those overseas players.
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“There is a new fun rule coming up that is going to change everything. I am saying this clearly. What do all the foreign players do? Skipping the mega auction. Today is the mega auction. I am going to farm in my city. Instead of coming to the auction, I will come to the mini-auction to build a house in Sydney for this mini-auction.” The 38-year-old shared his thoughts.
“Tomorrow, I am buying the Maldives. The day after tomorrow, I am buying a ship in Fiji. They have come to the mini-auction so far. What they are saying is that the highest value of an Indian player is your value. You can go for as much as you want.” He concluded by saying that the rule of a two-year ban should be implemented on foreigners.