Apart From MS Dhoni, This 5 International Cricketers Might Get Retained By IPL Teams As Uncapped Players

The new retention rule set by the Indian Premier League (IPL) has paved the way for the cricketers who were capped once to play as uncapped players. According to the new rules, a player who hasn’t played in the starting XI for the national side in any format for five calendar years will be labelled as uncapped.

Hyderabad: Ahead of the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) upcoming season, the governing council announced the IPL Player Regulations 2025-27 on Saturday. After a constructive dialogue with the franchises, the governing council came up with new rules and regulations. One of the rules which allows capped players to play as uncapped players has started the discussion around Chennai Super Kings (CSK) retaining MS Dhoni as an uncapped player for the IPL 2025 mega auction.

‘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 to Indian Players only,” the rule states.

Following is the list of players including MS Dhoni who can play as an uncapped player courtesy of the new rule in spite of having international experience.

MS Dhoni- The legendary Indian captain has been the face of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) since the start of the tournament in 2008. He has led the franchise to five titles in the competition so far. Dhoni last appeared in the Indian jersey in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand. Under the new rules, 'captain cool' can be retained as an uncapped player by CSK.

Mohit Sharma - The Indian pacer has been brilliant in the death overs in the previous edition while playing for Gujarat Titans in 2023. Especially, his slower balls were very effective and so the batters struggled to play big hits. The Haryana-based pacer last played for India in 2015 but hasn’t donned an Indian jersey after that.

Sandeep Sharma - The right-arm pacer has evolved his game over the years in the league. Sandeep was known for taking with the new ball thanks to the swing he generated. In the later years, he developed his skill to restrict runs in the death overs for Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Piyush Chawla - The Indian leg-spinner has played for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the last couple of seasons. He last represented the Indian team in 2012 and is now eligible to play as an uncapped player.

Vijay Shankar - The Tamil-Nadu cricketer have all-round skills and so his current franchise will be looking to retain him under the category of an uncapped player. The 33-year-old played for the Indian side in an international fixture in 2019 and hasn’t featured in any international fixture since then.