If the IPL sets similar costs for uncapped players retained ahead of the 2025 auction, it is believed that CSK are keen to retain Dhoni via that route. Several other franchises, however, were not in favour of giving long-retired internationals uncapped status.

Sunrisers Hyderabad owner Kavya Maran is understood to have said that allowing a retired player to be retained as an uncapped player would be “disrespecting” the individual as well as their value, which would be much more at an auction. She said it would set a “wrong precedent” if an uncapped player bought at the auction was getting paid more than the former international retained as an uncapped player. Her suggestion was for the retired player to be part of the auction, where the market would determine their fair price.

A head of another franchise at Wednesday’s meeting said several teams apart from CSK were of the opinion that a former international player should not be considered in the uncapped category regardless of how many years he had been retired.

Retired India players could be allowed to lower base price

The franchises did unanimously agree that Indian players who had not played international cricket for five years should be allowed to lower their base price at the auction. The suggestion is understood to have come from the IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin, whose view was that a lower base price would give such players a greater chance of getting bought at the auction.

A franchise head said that capped Indians who had not played internationals for several years were being forced to enter the auction at a high base price, and therefore going unsold despite their names coming up for bidding more than once.