Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni (Twitter)
The new uncapped player rule in the Indian Premier League has been the talk of the town ever since BCCI announced it on September 28. As per the guidelines, any Indian player who has played his last international game five years ago can register as an uncapped player, meaning the franchise can retain such player for INR 4 crore.
It has created a controversy on whether or not BCCI has done it to help Chennai Super Kings retain MS Dhoni for the next season. The legendary keeper-batter stated earlier that his decision to play or retire would depend on what the apex council decides with regards to the retention policy. Now that he can be registered as an uncapped player, Dhoni’s journey with CSK is set to continue without any hindrance.
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Reacting to the same, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh noted that it’s a bit strange for him that the two-time World Cup-winning captain can be registered as an “uncapped” player. He did not delve much into it but hilariously added that retired cricketers such as himself might as well come back and register as an uncapped player for the next season.
“Dhoni is immortal. He will play as long as he can. Now, he’s an uncapped player under the new rule – a two-time World Cup winner but he’s now uncapped.. Anything I say about it will be controversial. Anyway, I think this rule doesn’t apply only to Dhoni. There are plenty of players, some who even retired can come back. They can register again and I am one of the probables to register (laughs),” Harbhajan said exclusively to CricTracker.
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Meanwhile, neither Dhoni nor CSK have confirmed whether the cricketer will be registered under the uncapped category and it is merely a speculation so far as more is expected to come to light in the coming weeks. It has also been reported that Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja will surely be retained and the names of Shivam Dube and Matheesha Pathirana are being discussed.