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'We haven't discussed anything with M S Dhoni. We will speak post October 15.'
The IPL 2025 mega auction is one of the eagerly awaited events in the Indian sporting calendar.
There are several exciting new rule changes for the players' auction for the world's biggest cricket league. The franchises will be allowed to retain six players, the right-to-match (RTM) option has been brought back and the auction purse of the franchises has been increased to Rs 120 crore (Rs 1.2 billion).
All the 10 IPL teams will be working relentlessly in the next few weeks to ensure that they retain their best players or chalk out strategies how to buy them back through the RTM option at the auction.
All the big names -- Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer -- are expected to stay at their original teams.
But the entire cricketing world is waiting with bated breath for the decision by CSK legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Will the 43 year old hang up his boots or will he play one final season of IPL?
The BCCI has reintroduced the rule on uncapped player which allows an Indian player, who has retired from international cricket at least five years before the upcoming season, to go into the auction as uncapped players.
Dhoni, who retired from international cricket in 2019, is eligible to be signed up as the uncapped player for IPL 2025.
The rules also benefits CSK, who can retain their superstar as an uncapped player, by spending just Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million).
However, it is still not clear whether Dhoni will play IPL 2025. After he gave up the CSK captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of IPL 2024, there was speculation that Dhoni was getting to ready quit at the end of the season, but so far he has stayed mum on his future.
CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan revealed that the five-time IPL champions have still not started discussions with Dhoni on whether he will play in IPL 2025.
"We haven't discussed anything with M S Dhoni. We will speak post October 15," Viswanathan told Rediff.com.
"We have not discussed with him at all. When I come back only then we will discuss with him," said Viswanathan, who is heading to Singapore for a week.
IPL's impact player ruling which has been retained is has been beneficial for the ageing Dhoni. After undergoing surgery for a longstanding knee surgery, the CSK wicket-keeper-batter made most of the Impact Player last season, batting as late as No 8 or No 9, coming out to bat in the last couple of overs which ensured he didn't have to run much between the wickets.
Last year, Dhoni made quite an impact lower down the order as the Impact Player, hitting 161 runs in 11 innings at an average of 53.66 and a strike rate of 220.54.
Dhoni's last IPL match was against RCB in May when CSK went down by 27 runs to miss out on a place in the IPL 2024 play-offs.
The maestro played an entertaining cameo with the bat in the closing stages of the run chase, stroking 25 from 13 balls, while also taking a couple of good catches with the gloves.
His former team-mate Ambati Rayudu had said after the match that Dhoni could come back in IPL 2025.
'I don't think this is his last game. I just don't see him wanting to end on this note,' Rayudu had told Star Sports Cricket Live after the CSK-RCB game.
'He looked a little frustrated, even when he got out. That's very unlike M S Dhoni, he just wanted to qualify and finish on a high. But you never know with M S Dhoni, he might come back next year.'
'... With the impact player role as well, it gives him the opportunity to be able to come in those last few overs and truly make that impact.'