File image of R Ashwin and MS Dhoni.© BCCI
India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has given a rather unique take on Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) retention scenario, boldly suggesting that he would not retain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an uncapped player ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. Instead, Ashwin has proposed a different name as an uncapped retention for CSK, opting to retain Dhoni as a capped player and one of the five primary retentions. Ashwin gave his perspective while discussing the retentions on his YouTube channel.
“If you say Mumbai Indians can retain six players, why can't CSK? We have Ruturaj (Gaikwad), Jadeja (Ravindra Jadeja), (Matheesha) Pathirana, (Shivam) Dube, MS Dhoni and Sameer Rizvi,” said Ashwin.
“Just being a devil's advocate,” Ashwin said cheekily.
Former South Africa performance analyst Prasanna Raman, more commonly known by his moniker ‘PDogg', told Ashwin that he disagreed.
“I don't think you should retain Sameer Rizvi for Rs 4 cr. I don't even know whether he would agree to play for Rs 4 cr,” said Raman.
Bought ahead of IPL 2024 for a whopping Rs 8.4 crore, Rizvi failed to impress, scoring just 51 runs in eight games at a paltry strike rate of 118. Despite that, Ashwin retained hope for Rizvi, praising his good form in the UP T20 League, and pointed out that many similar players are available, which wouldn't raise Rizvi's price massively.
“He has been putting on a show every day. He's playing on a different level, single-handedly in the UP T20. There is a huge upside with him. He will fall into the same bracket as Shahrukh Khan, Abhinav Manohar and Dhruv Jurel,”
The IPL Governing Council's decision to bring back the rule that Indian players who've not played internationally for five or more years can be retained as ‘uncapped' provided CSK a route to retain five-time IPL-winning captain Dhoni for just Rs 4 crore.
However, Ashwin's perspective could help CSK retain a stronger Indian core. Ashwin played for CSK between 2008 and 2015, winning two IPL titles.