Gavaskar criticises BCCI's uncapped player rule that helped CSK retain Dhoni: 'Indian cricket takes a bit of a beating'

Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the BCCI tweaking its uncapped player rule that helped CSK retain MS Dhoni and its impact on Indian cricket. read more

Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to change the uncapped player rule ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 player auction, which helped Chennai Super Kings (CSK)retain MS Dhoni for Rs 4 crore as an uncapped player.

As per the rule change, franchises could retain a former Indian player as an uncapped cricketer if he had not played international cricket for five years. This made Dhoni eligible to be retained as an uncapped player at CSK, as he last played for India in 2019 before retiring in 2020. The Super Kings retained Dhoni for Rs 4 crore.

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This was an old rule that had been in existence since the first season in 2008 but was removed in 2021.

Gavaskar criticises IPL’s uncapped player rule

Indian cricketing legend Gavaskar, however, is unhappy with the big money being paid to other uncapped players as he feels it acts as a stumbling block for them to strive to become better and also adds unnecessary pressure to their game. In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar wrote that uncapped players bought for huge money fail to justify their talent sometimes due to pressure and later fade away as they lose motivation to improve after securing big paycheques.

“A whole lot of the players bought for huge amounts simply fade away as their hunger and drive are satiated,” Gavaskar wrote. “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. To accommodate Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who became an uncapped player before the auction last year, the limit was raised to ₹4 crore.”

“In all these years, it is hard to recall an uncapped player bought for huge numbers who has justified his inclusion in the team. 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,” he added.

Gavaskar added that many uncapped players started doing much better in subsequent seasons after their price tags came down. “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.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru paid Rs 6 crore for uncapped pacer Rasikh Dar ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. However, the 25-year-old has only played two matches in IPL 2025.

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