CSK Gears Up for Potential MS Dhoni Pay Cut After IPL Auction Announcement, Bracing for 66% Impact

Fans are anticipating the arrival of their favourite players with great fervour as the IPL 2025 draws near. There is a great deal of demand for MS Dhoni to stay with CSK, as supporters strongly desire that the team keep him. There is clearly excitement for the upcoming season.

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MS Dhoni is poised to face a 66% wage cut, but CSK heaves a sigh of relief after the IPL auction announcement

After the BCCI released the player regulations for the 2025 Indian Premier League season, the five-time IPL champion Chennai Super Kings sighed with delight on Saturday. Details regarding the mega auction, scheduled for November, were also included in the statement.

CSK's major focus stayed on keeping MS Dhoni as conjecture about the IPL mega auction grew more intense. The great skipper had said earlier at a function that the BCCI's retention policies would decide his future in the league. MS Dhoni had earlier said: 

“There is a lot of time for it. We have to see what decision they take on player retention etc. Right now, the ball is not in our court. So, once the rules and regulations get formalised, I will take a call, but needs to be in the best interest of the team,” 

Owing to the BCCI's decision to restore the "uncapped player" provision, which had been dropped following 2021, the road now seems clean for former India captain MS Dhoni to extend his IPL career. This criterion, as described in the IPL statement published on Saturday, lets Indian players who haven't participated in international cricket for five straight years be categorised as uncapped, hence allowing Dhoni's possible retention under this category.

"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."

Following successful talks with the owners of the ten clubs in July at the BCCI Headquarters, the IPL Governing Council reinstated the rule following a Saturday meeting in Bengaluru.

Retained by the franchise for ₹12 crore, MS Dhoni stood down as CSK captain before the 2024 season. Should CSK choose to keep the 43-year-old veteran, who retired from international cricket in 2020, his pay will noticeably drop. A report by ESPNCricinfo indicates that Dhoni's retention for the 2025 season will be ₹4 crore, a 66.67% salary drop reflected here.