Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy also likely to be retained by last season’s finalists
Pat Cummins and Heinrich Klaasen will both be retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad • BCCI
South Africa power-hitter Heinrich Klaasen is set to be the top retention for Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of IPL 2025. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Klaasen will get INR 23 crore (USD 2.74 million approx.) as the first retained player. The franchise has also finalised two other retention deals: Australian allrounder Pat Cummins, who was Sunrisers captain in 2024, at INR 18 crore (USD 2.14 million approx.), and India allrounder Abhishek Sharma at INR 14 crore (USD 1.67 million approx).
It is understood that Sunrisers are also likely to firm up the retentions of Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy soon. The IPL has set October 31 as the deadline for retentions ahead of the mega auction that will be held later this year.
Klaasen smacked 479 runs from 15 innings at IPL 2024, at a strike rate of 171.07, Sunrisers’ second-highest scorer behind Head and Abhishek. Abhished had scored 484 in 16 innings with a strike rate of 204.21 – the highest strike rate among the top-ten run-scorers last season. Cummins, of course, had captained Sunrisers to the final, where they fell short against Kolkata Knight Riders.
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Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo
