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Sunil Gavaskar expresses concern over the high salaries paid to uncapped players in IPL 2025, particularly questioning the revised retention rule that allowed CSK to retain MS Dhoni for a significant sum.
Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar expressed his concerns over hefty money being paid to the uncapped player in the ongoing IPL season. Ahead of the IPL 2025 Auction, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) brought back an uncapped player rule with a revised salary cap structure.
The BCCI set a retention salary cap for an uncapped IPL player at INR 4 crore ahead of the mega auction in Saudi Arabia, in November last year. However, the uncapped retention rule also applies to players who have not played or retired from international cricket for more than five years. The board set a base price of INR 30 lakh for uncapped players, which was an increase of INR 10 lakh from the previous base of INR 20 lakh which was applicable before IPL 2025 Auction.
Due to the rising popularity of the IPL, the BCCI decided to increase the auction purse of all the 10 franchises to 120 crore, which was an augmentation of 20% from the previous year when the purse was INR 100 crore, allowing teams more flexibility to retain their key players.
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Gavaskar unhappy with BCCI tweaking uncapped IPL player
Sunil Gavaskar is of the opinion that the uncapped players should not be paid a hefty amount, while slamming the BCCI for tweaking the uncapped retention rule to allow Chennai Super Kings to retain MS Dhoni for INR 4 crore.
“A whole lot of the players bought for huge amounts simply fade away as their hunger and drive are satiated. To the franchises, it perhaps doesn’t matter as they may feel it’s good riddance, but Indian cricket takes a bit of a beating at the loss of any player whether he has been successful or not.” former India captain wrote in SportsStar column.
“To accommodate Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who became an uncapped player before the auction last year, the limit was raised to ₹4 crore," he added.
The uncapped IPL player retention rule was in place from the inaugural of the IPL in 2008 before it was scrapped in 2021. However, the rule returned again ahead of the IPL 2025 Auction, allowing CSK to retain their stalwart Dhoni for INR 4 crore.
MS Dhoni retired from his international career after playing his last match for Team India in the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal against New Zealand. Dhoni announced his retirement from all formats of the game in August 2020. In the last IPL retention, Dhoni was retained for INR 12 crore, but with his international retirement, his status as an uncapped player allowed Chennai Super Giants to retain the veteran wicketkeeper-batter for significantly reduced fee.
Gavaskar on uncapped IPL players getting huge sum
Sunil Gavaskar did not hesitate to mention that hardly any uncapped player, who was bought for a huge amount at the IPL auction, went on to justify their price tag in the tournament. However, the former captain is skeptical that a player’s performance will improve if he plays local or domestic leagues without facing better competition. He further said the big price comes with a lot of expectations and many players fail to live up to the billing.
“In all these years, it is hard to recall an uncapped player bought for huge numbers who has justified his inclusion in the team.” Gavaskar wrote.
“Maybe over the next couple of years, he may get a bit better with experience, but if he is playing in the same local league, then that chance of improvement doesn’t get much better
"What does happen is that if in the next auction his price comes down, then the pressure of expectations also comes down and the player plays a lot better," he added.
Rasikh Dhar remains the most expensive uncapped IPL player in the league after Royal Challengers Bengaluru snapped him for INR 6 crore at the IPL 2025 Auction. However, the Jammu and Kashmir cricketer has managed to play only two matches so far in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League.
