Sports: Chennai Super Kings are waiting on confirmation from MS Dhoni on his future in the Indian Premier League as the retention deadline looms ahead of the upcoming mega auctions. The former CSK skipper and talisman Dhoni has kept the cards close to his chest on whether he would turn up for the five-time champions again or if IPL 2024 was his last dance.

The retention deadline ahead of the upcoming mega auction is October 31. While CSK wait for confirmation, the franchise CEO Kasi Viswanathan is hopeful that the wicketkeeper batter will turn up to play in the next season as an uncapped player. "We have still no confirmation from him, though we will like him to continue playing for us. Hope he will confirm before 31st (October)," Viswanathan said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

For the unversed, a franchise can retain a player who has not played an International match for five years as an uncapped player for INR 4 Crore. "A capped Indian player will become uncapped if he has, in the five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant season is held, not played in the starting XI in international cricket and does not have a central contract with BCCI. This will be applicable for Indian players only," the IPL Governing Council said in a media release. 

As per the retention rules, a franchise can retain up to six players with a maximum of five capped stars. A minimum of one and a maximum of two uncapped players have to be retained. The retentions can be direct or via Right to Match Cards at the auction. 

As far as the retention slabs go, franchises have to splurge out INR 18 crore for the first retention, INR 14 crore for the second, INR 11 for the third, INR 18 for the fourth and INR 14 for the fifth retention. An uncapped player can be retained at INR 4 crore. A franchise can splash more money than this if they want to.