The announcement of the player retention rules by the IPL Governing Council will force the franchises' think tank to have a deep strategy to plan their retention. The Governing Council has discouraged the franchises from retaining more than three capped players by increasing the amount for the fourth and fifth players.
The IPL governing council said in a statement, "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 six retentions/RTMs can have a maximum of five capped players (Indian and overseas) and a maximum of two uncapped [Indians] players."
The retention slabs make it clear that a franchise can retain their first three players for Rs. 18 crore, Rs 14 crore and Rs 11 crore with the retention price for the fourth and fifth player going up and reading Rs. 18 crore and 14 crore, respectively. The uncapped player/players can be retained at Rs 4 crore each.
With this announcement CSK might breath a little easier that they can retain Dhoni as an uncapped player. "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 statement further read. Here is a list of players CSK can retain ahead of the mega auctions.
MS Dhoni, Gaikwad in, Shardul unlikely
While Dhoni has not confirmed whether he will be playing in IPL 2025, the rule allows CSK to retain him as an uncapped player. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja and Matheesha Pathirana look certain retentions. Gaikwad has become the new captain and is the future of the franchise. He took his team closer to the playoffs, only to miss out on one place in the ten-team table.
Jadeja offers what hardly anyone does on the cricket field. He can bat anywhere, can bowl tight spells and is second in fielding to none. Pathirana has shown his brilliance in the last two seasons and is a highly-rated death-over-specialist around the world.
While these three and Dhoni are likely to be retained, CSK can also keep another future star Sameer Rizvi as the second uncapped player alongside their former skipper. CSK can keep Jadeja as their No.1 pick, followed by Gaikwad as the No.2 and Pathirana as the No.3 pick.
Notably, the likes of Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana and Shivam Dube might find it hard to be retained and CSK can pick one of them via Right to Match. While Dube is a recognised hitter, it might be too big to give him another 18 crore considering his form dwindled in the second half of the previous season.
CSK's possible retentions ahead of IPL 2025 auctions:
Ravindra Jadeja (18 Cr), Ruturaj Gaikwad (14 Cr), Matheesha Pathirana (11 Cr), MS Dhoni (4 Cr uncapped), Sameer Rizvi (4 Cr uncapped)
List of players who can be released by CSK:
Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly, Devon Conway
