SRH Plans to Retain Klaasen, Cummins, and Abhishek for Upcoming Season SRH Plans to Retain Klaasen, Cummins, and Abhishek for Upcoming Season
SRH Plans to Retain Klaasen, Cummins, and Abhishek for Upcoming Season

October 21, 2024

SRH Plans to Retain Klaasen, Cummins, and Abhishek for Upcoming Season

Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy are expected to be retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were the IPL finalists last season. According to ESPNcricinfo, South African power-hitter Heinrich Klaasen will be the top retention for the team ahead of IPL 2025, receiving ₹23 crore (approximately $2.74 million). The franchise has also confirmed the retention of Australian allrounder Pat Cummins, who was the captain in 2024, for ₹18 crore (around $2.14 million), and Indian allrounder Abhishek Sharma for ₹14 crore (approximately $1.67 million).

Additionally, Sunrisers Hyderabad is likely to finalize the retentions of Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy soon. The IPL has set October 31 as the deadline for these retention decisions ahead of a major auction later this year. Cummins will continue as the team’s captain in 2025 after leading Sunrisers to the finals last season.

The IPL has allowed each franchise to retain up to six players from their 2024 squads, which can include a maximum of five capped players (either Indian or overseas) and two uncapped Indians. Teams can retain players through a mix of retention deals and right-to-match (RTM) cards during the auction. The total budget for the 2025 auction is ₹120 crore. The IPL has established various retention price categories: ₹18 crore, ₹14 crore, and ₹11 crore for the top three capped players, with ₹18 crore and ₹14 crore for the next two, while uncapped Indians can be retained for a maximum of ₹4 crore. Franchises have the flexibility to allocate their ₹75 crore capped retention budget among five capped players as they see fit.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad Focuses on Core Retention to Build a Strong Team for IPL 2025

Successful teams have always focused on retaining their core players, so it’s no surprise that Sunrisers Hyderabad has chosen this path. Pat Cummins, who was the second-most expensive buy at the 2024 mini-auction for ₹20.50 crore (approximately $2.47 million), leveraged his international leadership experience to collaborate effectively with coach Daniel Vettori. Together, they guided the team to the playoffs after three challenging seasons. Despite this, Cummins will see a 12.2% reduction in his salary compared to 2024.

The supportive environment created by Cummins and Vettori allowed younger players like Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy to thrive alongside stars like Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen. Head and Abhishek formed one of the most explosive opening pairs in IPL history, both consistently achieving strike rates above 200. Head finished the season as the fourth-highest run-scorer, amassing 567 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 191.55.

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Klaasen also made a significant impact, finishing just behind Abhishek in sixes hit. Abhishek scored 484 runs with an impressive strike rate of 204.21, while Klaasen contributed 479 runs at a strike rate of 171.07. Klaasen’s rising status as one of the top T20 batters is evident from a remarkable 338% increase from the ₹5.25 crore that Sunrisers paid for him before IPL 2023. Over two seasons with the team, he has accumulated 927 runs in 26 innings at a strike rate of 174.

Abhishek’s standout performance in T20 cricket earned him a significant value increase of 115%. His achievements in IPL 2024 led to his call-up to the India T20I squad, and he is now set to earn more than double what Sunrisers paid for him during the mega auction before the 2022 season (₹6.5 crore). This year, Abhishek boasts the highest T20 strike rate (194.84) among players who have faced over 200 balls, and he also had the highest scoring rate among the tournament’s top ten run-scorers.

Twenty-one-year-old seam-bowling allrounder Reddy made his international debut in the recent T20I series against Bangladesh, where he scored an impressive 74 off 34 balls in his second match. In IPL 2024, he contributed reliably to Sunrisers with 303 runs at a strike rate of 142.92 and took three wickets.

If Sunrisers finalize these five retentions and don’t add a sixth player before the deadline, they will hold one right-to-match (RTM) card for the auction, which can only be used for an uncapped Indian player.

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Katarzyna Nowak

Katarzyna Nowak is a seasoned writer with over five years of experience in editorial content, news reporting, and cricket sportsbook app reviews. As an author for IPLWin365 (IPL365 News), she combines her deep understanding of the sports betting industry with a passion for cricket, delivering insightful and accurate content that keeps readers informed and engaged.