MS Dhoni for CSK [Source: @CricCrazyJohns/x.com]
The IPL 2025 has created unreal hype seven to eight months before its start. The craze regarding the tournament has been due to the mega auction that is scheduled before it. Fans have been waiting for the teams to release their retention lists for the tournament's upcoming season for the last few weeks. With the retentions of all the teams finally released, a discussion about who has had the best retention strategy is going on.
To analyse the retention of each is the scope of a separate article. Here, we will take a look at the players who have taken significant pay cuts from the previous contract to play in the next season. While the retentions have seen the unreal hike in the salary of a few players, here are two players whose salaries got reduced significantly.
1. MS Dhoni - 66% or 3 Times
MS Dhoni has been retained by CSK using the uncapped rule. As per this rule, if an Indian player has not played at the international level for more than five years, he can be treated as an uncapped player. Since MS Dhoni's last appearance in the blues of India was in 2019, he was retained as an uncapped player by CSK for just INR 4 Cr.
MS Dhoni got INR 12 Cr when the franchise last retained him. So, his salary has been reduced by INR 8 Cr. MSD's new IPL salary is 1/3 of or 66% less than his previous one.
2. Pat Cummins - 12.19%
Pat Cummins for SRH [Source: @HarshaTarak8/x.com]
The other player who has taken a significant pay cut is Pat Cummins. The Australian skipper received INR 20.5 Cr in his previous contract with the SRH. For IPL 2025, he has been retained at INR 18 Cr. Thus, his salary has decreased by 12.19%. Notably, Pat Cummins took over the team as a captain last season and changed the pattern of cricket that the team plays. Hence, the team has retained him and asked him to lead the team further. It is commendable on the part of the Australian fast bowler that he has decided to give time to the SRH project by taking a pay cut.
Interestingly, the two players who have taken a significant pay cut for IPL 2025 are both ODI World Cup-winning captains.