While Dhoni played a limited role in 2024, coming in as a finisher late in the innings, his influence on the team remains immense. He had earlier stated that his decision to continue in the IPL would

IPL franchises can retain up to five cricketers with no nationality restriction, introducing Right to Match card option.

Mumbai: Ahead of the IPL mega auction, each team can retain a maximum of 5 players. One player can also be acquired through Right to Match (RTM). That is, a team can retain six players. The biggest feature is that there is no difference between foreign stars and Indian stars.

The BCCI brought back the uncapped player rule for India's international players with over five years of gap in their last appearance for the national team.

BCCI's IPL retention rules reveal that a capped Indian player becomes uncapped if not in the starting XI for five years. MS Dhoni, last playing in July 2019, is now uncapped, potentially saving CSK ₹4 crore during the auction.

Over the last couple of seasons though, Dhoni has been giving away responsibilities to other players as the news around his retirement makes rounds.

BCCI have officially announced the Retention rules and Player Regulations for IPL 2025, and fans of Chennai Super Kings can be extremely delighted with the fact that a certain rule allows the franchise to retain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at a very low price.