Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins has reportedly shown a selfless side for the betterment of the team as fans look forward to the No. 1 remaining player due to infighting within the team. There is. According to reports, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have identified Heinrich Klaasen as the key holdover player ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction, with Pat Cummins and Abhishek Sharma the other two. He announced that he would be a retained player. Although the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) allows franchises to retain up to six players, SRH is said to be keen to enter the auction with just three retentions.
According to ESPNcricinfoKlaasen will be the first retained player to receive 23 million rupees (approximately US$2.74 million). The team also signed Australian all-rounder Pat Cummins, who captained SRH in 2024, for 18 million rupees (approximately USD 2.14 million) and Indian all-rounder Abhishek Sharma for 14 million rupees (approximately USD 1.67 million). The remaining contract was also confirmed.
Surprisingly, the top pick was not Cummins, the team’s captain. Cummins was famously acquired by SRH in the IPL 2024 auction for a whopping fee of Rs 2.05 crore. However, according to reports, the Australian pacer will receive only up to Rs 180 crore this time, which will be a significant pay cut.
Despite being SRH’s highest-paid player last year, Cummins is said to have made the selfless decision to agree to make Claassen the team’s top acquisition ahead of the mega-auction. In fact, Cummins, the team’s captain, had the opportunity to push forward with his compatriot Travis Head’s decision, but chose Claassen as his No. 1 option.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) recently stipulated that franchises can retain up to six players from their 2024 squad, with a cap of five capped players (Indian or overseas) and uncapped Indian players. Maximum of 2 players. Franchises can use Retention Agreements and Right to Play (RTM) cards to retain players during auctions.
For the 2025 auction, the prize is set at 120 million rupees. IPL has established reservation slabs of Rs 1.8 billion, Rs 1.4 billion and Rs 1.1 billion for the first three capped reservations and Rs 1.8 billion and Rs 1.4 billion for the next two. Uncapped Indians can get up to Rs 4,000 crore. The franchise can allocate a capped retention pot of Rs 750 crore to five capped players as needed.
Retaining core players is the strategy for a successful IPL franchise and SRH seems to be following this approach as well. Cummins, who became the second most expensive player in the 2024 mini-auction with a price of INR 20.5 billion (approximately US$ 2.47 million), effectively utilized the leadership skills he developed in international cricket and worked well with SRH coach Daniel Vettori. We collaborated. With their help, SRH reached the playoffs after three disappointing seasons. Financially, Cummins’ retention reflects a 12.2% discount from its 2024 price.
Cummins and Vettori’s leadership has given young players like Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy the freedom to grow. Abhishek and Travis Head formed one of the most formidable opening pairs in IPL history, with both maintaining a strike rate of over 200. Head finished the season in 4th place on the overall run-getters list, scoring 567 runs at a strike rate of 191.55 in 15 innings.
If SRH finalizes all five holdouts and chooses not to add a sixth player by the deadline, they will have one RTM card available for auction. This is only available for uncapped Indians. SRH is expected to confirm the retention of Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy soon. IPL has set a hold deadline of October 31 ahead of a major auction later this year.
Pat Cummins, who led SRH to the final last season, will continue as captain in 2025.
With ANI input
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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