Playing 11 of capped Indian players who qualify as uncapped for IPL 2025 auction ft. MS Dhoni, Karn Sharma
IPL 2025 auction rules have become a major talking point across cricketing circles. The BCCI has introduced some new guidelines and brought back one old rule for the IPL 2025 auction later this year.
Talking about the recalled rule, capped Indian players, who have neither played for India in the last five years nor been centrally contracted by the board, will be eligible to play as 'uncapped' players. It means that their franchises can retain them for ₹4 crore or if they are released, they can list their base price to the minimum amount at the auction, thereby giving them a better chance to get a deal.
While many fans think that only MS Dhoni will benefit from this rule, here's an entire playing XI of such capped Indian players who will be uncapped for IPL 2025 auction.
Openers - Mandeep Singh and Karun Nair
The right-handed duo of Mandeep Singh and Karun Nair will open the batting for this unique playing XI. Mandeep played his last T20I for India in 2016, whereas Karun's last appearance for the country came in a Test match in 2017.
Karun remained unsold at last year's auction but joined the Lucknow Super Giants as a replacement. After a solid campaign in Maharaja T20 Trophy 2024, Karun is likely to fetch a deal at the upcoming mega auction.
Middle Order - Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (c and wk), Rishi Dhawan, Parvez Rasool and Piyush Chawla
The middle-order features Vijay Shankar and MS Dhoni, two members of India's 2019 World Cup squad, who never played for the country again after the tournament.
Shankar turned up for the Gujarat Titans from 2022 to 2024 and had a fantastic stint with the Ahmedabad-based franchise. Dhoni, meanwhile, won his fifth trophy as IPL captain in 2023. Hence, he will lead this uncapped team of IPL 2025 auction.
All-rounders Rishi Dhawan, Parvez Rasool and Piyush Chawla will give some much-needed balance to this lineup. Dhawan, who played for the Punjab Kings last season, hasn't played international cricket since 2016, while Rasool disappeared from the Indian team after a T20I against England in 2017.
Chawla played for the Mumbai Indians in the previous IPL season. He was quite impressive in the spin department, and MI may even consider retaining him for ₹4 crore as an uncapped player before the IPL 2025 Auction.
Bowlers - Karn Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma and Amit Mishra
This team will feature two more experienced leg-spin bowlers in Karn Sharma and Amit Mishra. Karn, who played his last match for India in 2014, had a decent stint with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2024. Meanwhile, Mishra made sporadic appearances as an Impact Player for LSG last season, having played his last match for India in 2017.
Sandeep Sharma will lead the pace attack of this team alongside Mohit Sharma. Sandeep and Mohit did a phenomenal job for the Rajasthan Royals and the Titans respectively, in the last season. In fact, many fans expected them to make a comeback to the Indian team as well.
Sandeep's last match for India was in 2016, while Mohit last donned the blue jersey in 2015. It will be interesting to see if RR and GT think about retaining the seasoned pros as uncapped players ahead of IPL 2025 Auction.