Sunrisers Hyderabad enjoyed a phenomenal season in IPL 2024, with contributions coming from all quarters. Such was the team’s performance that the franchise owners would retain majority of the side, if they had an option. Sadly, like the other teams, SRH will also have to finalize their IPL 2025 retentions by the October 31 deadline and hence will be forced to make some smart picks and hard choices.
The current SRH squad is packed with match-winners. From explosive batters like Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen to brilliant all-rounder cum captains Aiden Markram and Pat Cummins, the team is nothing short of being star-studded. They even saw contributions coming in from the uncapped section, with Nitish Kumar Reddy emerging as one of the breakout stars. As mentioned before, the franchise has limited options when it comes to retentions and it is most likely that they will retain four players while go the Right to Match (RTM) route for two more players.
SRH retention list for IPL 2025
- Retention 1 (Rs 23 crore) – Heinrich Klaasen
- Retention 2 (Rs 18 crore) – Pat Cummins
- Retention 3 (Rs 14 crore) – Abhishek Sharma
- Retention 4 (Rs 11 crore) – Travis Head
- RTM 1 – Nitish Kumar Reddy
- RTM 2 – Aiden Markram
Rs 23 crore – Heinrich Klaasen
Prior to the October 31 deadline for the IPL franchises to submit their retention list, a report did rounds claiming that SRH is willing to retain South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen for a whooping Rs 23 crore. And why not? The explosive batter has had a phenomenal season with the Orange Army over the last couple of years. With 448 and 479 runs in IPL 2023 and 2024 respectively, Klaasen was arguably one of the best batters for SRH, not to mention one of the most consistent as well. In all, the keeper-batter has 993 runs in IPL to his name so far and there’s much more left in his tank. Surely, SRH will go big to retain the star.
Rs 18 crore – Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins is all set to be retained by SRH for IPL 2025 after almost leading them to their 2nd title in 2024. SRH broke their bank to procure the services of the Australian all-rounder for Rs 20.5 crore in the mini-auction in December 2023. And Cummins worked his magic, just like that once he linked up with the side. As a bowler, Cummins had a decent first season with the Sunrisers, bagging 18 wickets. However, it is his record as SRH skipper that grabs eyeballs. With 8 wins and five losses in IPL 2024, Cummins displayed his ability to lead the side effectively and hence is another sure shot retention for the team.
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Rs 14 crore – Abhishek Sharma
The Punjab opener was a revelation for the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the top of the order and turned out to be the perfect partner for the explosive Travis Head. Abhishek Sharma showed glimpses of Yuvraj Singh with his monstrous hits as he took the bowlers to the cleaners. Having made his IPL debut in 2019, Sharma’s best season came in IPL 2024 where he amassed 484 runs. Some of the most memorable and fast-paced innings were played by Abhishek in the last season, terrorizing the opposition along with his Australian partner.
As a reward for his performances, he received his maiden call up to the Indian T20I side and he wasted no opportunity to display his prowess on the big stage as well. Apart from his spectacular technique and ability, the fact that he is surely one of India’s first-choice openers in the shortest format is one of the main reasons why SRH will want to retain Abhishek Sharma at any cost.
Rs 11 crore – Travis Head
Another Australian who made fans turn their heads was Travis Head. Having terrorized India in the ODI World Cup final, the batter had no problem replicating his heroics in IPL 2024 in the same country, except for this time it was nine other teams who faced his wrath. With 567 runs to his name in IPL 2024, he was SRH’s leading run-getter, including four fifties and a magnificent century. A look at his strike rate – 191.55 – will explain why SRH would surely want Head to continue opening the innings for the side with Abhishek Sharma.
No room for Umran Malik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been an SRH veteran for years now, is highly unlikely to be retained by the franchise. His form has been average or a little below that over the past few years and he isn’t the same dangerous pacer that he was previously. 12, 16 and 11 wickets is all Kumar has managed to take in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. Adding to his age factor is the fact that Bhuvi’s prowess in white-ball cricket has taken a hit in the recent past, to an extent that he has also fallen out of the favour of the Indian and state selectors.
Another pacer who is likely to face the end of the road is Umran Malik. Discovered and given spotlight by SRH, the quick bowler quickly grabbed eyeballs with his ability to bowl deliveries over 150 kmph. Sadly, like always, with high speed comes the higher chances of injury and that is exactly what happened with Umran. After playing 14 games in 2022, he only took field 8 times in 2023 and only once in IPL 2024. And his wicket taking ability saw a dip over the years as well, from 22 wickets in 2022 to none in 2024.
RTM route for Nitish Reddy and Aiden Markram
Two players that SRH would surely want to retain, but not by splurging big bucks, are Nitish Kumar Reddy and Aiden Markram. While the South African has been a part of the franchise for a few years now, the Andhra Pradesh all-rounder shot to fame in IPL 2024 after displaying glimpses of his ability to finish games with the bat and handy contributions with the ball. He turned out to be one of the most successful batters for Sunrisers in IPL 2024, with 303 runs to his name while batting in the middle. Once again, Nitish Reddy is another star who also earned his maiden India call-up recently and sizzled in his very first series (IND vs BAN T20Is).
Markram has been a consistent performer for SRH ever since joining the side in 2022. His best season for the franchise came in his very first IPL with SRH, as he amassed 381 runs. The next two years, he went on to score 248 and 220 respectively. He is surely an asset that SRH would want to have, but via the RTM route.
SRH’s current squad
Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram (c), Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed , Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.
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