At a time when fans are expecting rivalry between players within teams to remain the number one player, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins has reportedly shown his selfless side for the good of the team. According to reports, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have identified Heinrich Klaasen as their main player ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, while the other two players will be Pat Cummins and Abhishek Sharma. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has allowed franchises to retain a maximum of 6 players, the CBCI is said to be keen on auctioning just the three remaining players.
According to ESPNcricinfoKlaasen will receive INR 23 crore (approximately US$2.74 million) as the first player retained. The franchise also confirmed agreements to retain Australian all-rounder Pat Cummins, who captained SRH in 2024, for a sum of INR 18 crore (approximately US$2.14 million) and Indian all-rounder Abhishek Sharma for a sum of INR 14 crore (approximately US$1.67 million US dollars).
Surprisingly, the top choice was not team captain Cummins. Cummins is known to have been bought by SRZ in the IPL 2024 auction for a whopping amount of INR 20.50 crore. But as per reports, the Australian player will get a maximum of INR 18 crore this time, which will lead to a significant pay cut.
Despite being SRH’s highest-paid player last year, Cummins is said to have made a selfless decision by agreeing to make Klaasen the team’s highest-earning player ahead of the mega auction. In fact, Cummins, as captain of the team, also had the opportunity to force the decision of his compatriot Travis Head, but he chose Klaasen as the No. 1 player.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) recently ruled that franchises can retain up to six players from their teams for 2024, with a maximum of five disabled players (Indian or overseas) and two uncapped Indians. Franchises can use retention agreements and right-to-match (RTM) cards during the auction to retain their players.
The 2025 auction will be worth INR 120 crores. IPL has set retentions of INR 18 crore, INR 14 crore and INR 11 crore for the first three limited retentions and INR 18 crore and INR 14 crore for the next two. Indians can get a maximum of INR 4 Crores without any restrictions. Franchises can distribute the capped retention amount of INR 75 crore among the five capped players at their discretion.
Retaining core players has been the strategy of successful IPL franchises and SRH seems to be following that approach. Cummins, who was the second most expensive player in the 2024 mini-auction at INR 20.50 crore (approximately US$2.47 million), has put his leadership skills gained in international cricket to good use and worked well with SRH coach Daniel Vettori . Their partnership led SRH to the playoffs after three disappointing seasons. Financially, Cummins’ hold reflects a 12.2% decline from its 2024 price.
Cummins and Vettori management have given youngsters like Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy the freedom to flourish. Abhishek and Travis Head formed one of the most formidable opening pairs in IPL history, both maintaining a strike rate of over 200. Head finished the season fourth in the overall run-scoring list with 567 runs at a strike rate of 191.55 in 15 innings.
If SRH completes all five holds and decides not to add a sixth player before the deadline, there will be one RTM card available in the auction that can only be used for the Indian with no cap. The SRH is also expected to confirm the retention of Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy soon. The IPL has set October 31 as the deadline to hold assets ahead of the mega auction later this year.
Pat Cummins, who led SRH to the final last season, will remain captain in 2025.
With ANI inputs
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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