Before the 2025 IPL date announcement, the Mega Auction for the upcoming IPL league has been scheduled on November 24 and 25, 2024. Ahead of which there’s a lot of suspense if the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for the Chennai Super Kings CSK in 2025 IPL. In 2020, Dhoni announced his retirement from International cricket and since then hasn’t revealed his next step. Meanwhile, the retention deadline is nearing and fans are eagerly waiting for Dhoni’s inclusion in the team. Let us tell you that the deadline for IPL 2025 retention list is October 31, 2024 by 5 PM IST and all the franchises must submit their retention list before the deadline.
In an important announcement, the BCCI has released a retention rule that states that if an Indian cricketer has not played any international match for the last five seasons, they can be retained as an uncapped player for 4 crore. Dhoni’s last international tournament was the 2019 ODI World Cup in England and is eligible under the rule. Now CSK CEO, Kasi Viswanathan has given a statement that the franchise is waiting for Dhoni’s decision. On one hand, the CEO has said that he hopes Dhoni plays another season but on the other hand Dhoni has kept silent on the matter. Viswanathan told ESPNcricinfo that
“We have still no confirmation from him, though we will like him to continue playing for us. Hope he will confirm before 31st [October],”
One of the reasons why Dhoni may not play the 2025 IPL is because of his knee surgery. For those who are unaware of it, let us tell you that Dhoni had suffered a knee injury during the 2023 IPL ending and later underwent surgery. Still, as we saw Dhoni play very well as he scored 161 runs at a whopping strike rate of 220 as a finisher in IPL 2024, it may be possible that Dhoni comes back to the game even stronger than before. Dhoni has told the CEO “don’t worry, I’ll tell you my decision before October 31″.