"There was a murmur around the room" - IPL's first-ever auctioneer revisits moment when MS Dhoni's name came up in the inaugural auction

Indian Premier League's (IPL) first-ever auctioneer, Richard Madley, in an interview, revisited the moment when the legendary MS Dhoni's name came up in the inaugural auction held in 2008. Madley recalled that there was a murmur around the room and plenty of excitement when the former Indian captain's name was announced at the auction.

Dhoni led India to victory in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. As a result, there was plenty of buzz around him in the build-up to the first-ever IPL auction. Not surprisingly, he was the costliest player to be purchased at the inaugural auction and was sold for a whopping 1.5 million USD to Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a franchise the cricketer continues to represent.

In an interaction with CricTracker ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, Madley went down memory lane and tried to recall the scenario when Dhoni's name came up at the inaugural auction in 2008. He told the website:

"And Dhoni, I think, came up about player number five or six. I guess he came out fourth or fifth name on that day. And there was 'ahh' when his name came up. And in those days, we were using tiny little cricket balls that were kept in a velvet bag. And it came up with a player number on it, set number, which was his. And there was a murmur around the room that you could tell there was excitement within the room itself."

Dhoni entered the IPL 2008 auction at a base price of 400,000 USD. Late Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds was the costliest foreign player at the inaugural IPL auction. He was sold to the now-defunct Deccan Chargers franchise for 1.35 million USD.

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MS Dhoni has been retained by CSK as an uncapped player for IPL 2025

Rather interestingly, Dhoni has been retained by CSK ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction as an uncapped player for ₹4 crore. The retention was made possible following BCCI's revised rules for the tournament, which state that an Indian player who has not played international cricket for five years and does not have a central contract will be considered uncapped.

Under Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings won the IPL five times, making them the joint-most successful franchise in the T20 league, along with Mumbai Indians (MI). In 264 IPL matches, the 43-year-old has scored 5,243 runs at an average of 39.13 and a strike rate of 137.54, with 24 fifties, which includes a best of 84*.