The Sunrisers Hyderabad, SRH, is one of the most renowned IPL franchises of recent times, as they went up to the finals in 2024, though in the finals they faced defeat from Gambhir’s mentored Knight Riders side.
The Sunrisers made their debut back in 2013, and the team overtook the old franchise of Deccan Chargers, as they won the first-ever IPL under David Warner’s captaincy in 2016 when they earned a historic win over Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers. The team has also played many finals under Kane Williamson and lastly under World Cup-winning skipper Pat Cummins, though they are still in the hunt for their 2-IPL trophy.
SRH co-owner Kavya Maran was among the very few owners who penned over the decision of not limiting their number of overseas retentions, which was due to their extremely talented bench overloaded with foreign cricketers.
Consisting of their extremely capable skipper Pat Cummins, who is among the most priorly retained players, while also Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma might be among the other players who might be retained as well, alongside Heinrich Klaasen, the protea big-hitter.
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With the mega-auctions yet to be announced, SRH will look to retain players, as they would look to retain 5 of these players:
Abhishek Sharma
The rising Indian batting star is known for his stunning portrayal of aggressiveness, especially during the powerplay overs, where he is mostly seen dominating with a very high strike rate. Also paired alongside the intentful Tarvis Head, Sharma often scores quick runs for his franchise at the top of the order.
Sharma can also bowl quality left-arm orthodox spin, as he is a decent option under some of the sub-continent conditions where spin can often play a major role, hence chances of him being retained are very high.
Travis Head
Travis Head, the Australian opening batter, currently ranked the No. 1 T20I batter by the ICC, has been in high demand across all global leagues, as he has also been a fearless batter in the format and has continued his form since the World Cup victory in 2023.
He was also SRH’s highest run scorer in the IPL 2024, as he dominated with the bat, making some amazing records on his comeback in the IPL. Head also scored his maiden hundred in the very first edition of the IPL. With 500+ runs first in the IPL followed by 400+ runs scored for WAF in the MLC, in 2024, Head will be the most supremely targeted batter.
Heinrich Klaasen
The Protea wicketkeeper batter has risen in recent times and is currently one of the most explosive batsmen in the world, among players who star in the shortest format of the game. The batter also had a stunning IPL season, as he with humongous sixes added excellence to the SRH batting lineup.
Klaasen might be their other overseas addition, as he might be retained more due to his role as a wicketkeeper since many of the franchises are in the quest for a wicketkeeper, and Klaasen’s additional quality of a big-hitter seems like a cherry on top.
Pat Cummins
The skipper from the last edition for SRH was also one of the best skippers due to his resilient performance with the Aussies. He was also signed into the Major League Cricket team, as he led the San Francisco Unicorns to a triumphant race off to the finals, where they finally lost to the Steven Smith-led Washington Freedom.
One of the finest pace bowlers, Cummins was also one of the highest wicket-takers alongside Thangarasu Natrajan, and his quality is only enhanced as he often scores some runs with the bat.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
SRH’s most retained player since their debut season in 2013. He was brought in from the Pune Warriors India to the Sunrisers Hyderabad and has been the most sensational player for them, while Bhuvi has picked the most wickets and has been the purple cap winner several times in the IPL, rather the most by any bowler.
Bhuvneshwar has been the only player, even over Warner, Williamson, and Dhawan, who has not been retained at some time or another; however, Bhuvi has kept his place in the SRH lineup and hopefully will continue to do so.
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