The IPL Governing Council announced the much-anticipated player regulations, including the retention rules, ahead of the IPL Mega Auction 2025, which is expected to be held in the last week of November. In their announcement last month, the IPL GC also brought back an old retention rule, which existed right from the inaugural edition in 2008 till 2021. The rule was removed ahead of the last mega auction in 2022, and returns after three years. The old retention rule allows a player who has not played international cricket or has not been part of BCCI central contract for the last five calendar years to be considered as an uncapped player, allowing franchises to retain the said player for Rs 4 Crore. Once the rules were released, many believed, it was brough back to allow CSK to retain MS Dhoni at Rs 4 Crore. However, the IPL Chairman has said the rule does not only benefit Dhoni and allows many other cricketers who have kept themselves fit to continue playing. "I don't think so that this uncapped player is an exception for MS Dhoni. It is for all our players because so many young talents who are making it to the Indian team, but there are many senior players who are announcing their retirement from international cricket but they are fit to play," Dhumal said during an interaction with Rediff. Dhumal further suggested even players like Piyush Chawla and Amit Mishra, who were part of the league last season despite not playing international cricket for so long, also might benefit from the uncapped player rule. "You have someone like Piyush Chawla still playing in the IPL or you have Amit Mishra. They have been out of the Indian team for so many years, but they have done so well in the IPL," Dhumal added. The IPL Chairman also said someone like Dhoni is a player any team would pick whether uncapped or capped or for whatever the price due to his onfield planning and strategy. "When it comes to strategy or planning for a match, there is nobody better than Dhoni. Whether he is uncapped or capped, every franchise would want to pick Dhoni, no matter what price he is available for," Dhumal said. Apart from Dhoni, Mishra and Chawla, the likes of Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Mohit Sharma and Mayank Markande also fall in the uncapped category. It would be interesting to see of any other player apart from Dhoni and Sandeep would be retained by teams before the October 31st deadline.