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 (US$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 (US$2.14 million approx.), and India allrounder Abhishek Sharma at INR 14 crore (US$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 set October 31 as the deadline for retentions ahead of the mega auction that will be held later this year.
Cummins, who had captained Sunrisers to the final last season, will continue as captain in 2025.
Recently the IPL decided that a franchise can retain up to six players - including a maximum of five capped players (Indian or overseas) and two uncapped Indians - from their 2024 squads. Franchises can hold on to their players via any combination of retention deals and right-to-match (RTM) cards at the auction.
The purse for the 2025 auction is INR 120 crore. The IPL also set various retention slabs - INR 18 crore, INR 14 crore, and INR 11 crore for the first three capped retentions, and INR 18 crore and INR 14 crore for the next two, with uncapped Indians fetching a maximum of INR 4 crore - but franchises are allowed to divide the capped retention pot of INR 75 crore among five capped players as they wish.
Successful units have always looked to retain their core, and hence it is no surprise that Sunrisers have decided to go down this route. Cummins, who was the second-most expensive buy at the 2024 mini-auction (INR 20.50 crore or US$2.47 million approx.), made use of his leadership experience in international cricket and combined well with Sunrisers coach Daniel Vettori to help steer Sunrisers to the playoffs after three disappointing seasons. In monetary terms, Cummins gets a 12.2% reduction on his 2024 price.
The freedom the Cummins-Vettori leadership group allowed youngsters like Abhishek and Reddy helped them to flourish in the company of Head and Klaasen. Head and Abhishek formed arguably the most dangerous opening pair ever seen at the IPL, with both consistently hitting 200-plus strike rates. Head finished the season fourth on the overall run-getters list, with 567 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 191.55.
Klaasen provided equally robust finishing touches, with his six count behind only that of Abhishek's. While Abhishek made 484 runs at a strike rate of 204.21, Klaasen scored 479 runs at a strike rate of 171.07.
Klaasen's burgeoning reputation as one of the best T20 batters going around is reflected in a 338% increase from the INR 5.25 crore Sunrisers paid for him at the mini-auction ahead of IPL 2023. He has aggregated 927 runs in 26 innings at a strike rate of 174 in his two seasons at Sunrisers so far.
Abhishek's successful year in T20 cricket sees him rewarded with a value hike of 115%. He earned an India T20I call-up on the back of his IPL 2024 exploits, and will earn more than twice of what Sunrisers paid for him at the mega auction ahead of the 2022 season (INR 6.5 crore).
Abhishek has a T20 strike rate of 194.84 to date in 2024, which is the highest for any batter who has faced more than 200 balls in the format this year. At IPL 2024, too, he had the highest scoring rate among the tournament's top-ten run-getters.
Twenty-one-year-old seam-bowling allrounder Reddy - who debuted for India in the recently concluded T20I series against Bangladesh, smashing 74 off 34 in his second game - had proven a reliable support act for Sunrisers in 2024, with 303 runs at a strike rate of 142.92 and three wickets.
If Sunrisers firm up all five of these retentions, and do not add a sixth to their list before deadline day, they will have one RTM card at the auction, which can only be used for an uncapped Indian.
With inputs from Yash Jha