‘Indian cricket takes a bit of beating… To accommodate MS Dhoni limit was raised to INR 4 crore’: Sunil Gavaskar

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar expressed his concern over the big money being paid to uncapped players in the Indian Premier League. The rise of the T20 format and the emergence of IPL have given the young talents a big stage to perform and showcase the talent they possess to the cricketing world. The popularity of the league has also led to an increase in the auction purse for the franchise as several players, from young to experienced, hit the paydirt for playing in the IPL.

However, Gavaskar has made his thoughts crystal clear that the young uncapped players should not be paid too much. He also shared his disappointment over BCCI tweaking the uncapped player retention rule ahead of this season to accommodate MS Dhoni to get retained for INR 4 crore.

"A whole lot of the players bought for huge amounts simply fade away as their hunger and drive are satiated. To the franchises, it perhaps doesn’t matter as they may feel it’s good riddance, but Indian cricket takes a bit of a beating at the loss of any player whether he has been successful or not. To accommodate Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who became an uncapped player before the auction last year, the limit was raised to ₹4 crore," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

The BCCI made a bold decision by introducing a new uncapped player rule during the retention process, where an Indian player who has not played international cricket for five years prior to the concerned season would go into the IPL auction as an"uncapped player". The rule was in place since the inaugural season in 2008 and was scrapped in 2021, and returned once again, which allowed legendary Dhoni to get retained for INR 4 crore by CSK. Gavaskar wants the BCCI to change the rule and reduce the amount for uncapped player retention.

‘Hard to recall an uncapped player bought for huge numbers…’

Gavaskar stated that it's tough to name an uncapped player who was picked for a big amount, but went on to justify his talent on the big stage.

“In all these years, it is hard to recall an uncapped player bought for huge numbers who has justified his inclusion in the team. Maybe over the next couple of years, he may get a bit better with experience, but if he is playing in the same local league, then that chance of improvement doesn’t get much better,” he added.

In the IPL 2025 mega auction, Rasikh Dar turned out to be the most expensive uncapped player with RCB getting him for INR 6 crore. However, the right-arm pacer has only managed to play two matches this season so far.

The legendary cricketer said that with the big price tag comes an expectations factor, and many young players fail to live up to it. When their price gets dropped next year, things start working out with it.

"What does happen is that if in the next auction his price comes down, then the pressure of expectations also comes down and the player plays a lot better," he wrote.