by New Delhi [India]: Sunrisers Hyderabad will retain Australian batsman Travis Head and young Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy as their final two internationals ahead of the IPL auction.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Head is retained ₹14 crore while Reddy will secure a deal ₹6 crore.
With these two key additions, SRH have now finalized their quota of five eligible players ahead of the auction, cementing the core team that took them to the IPL 2024 final.
The total value of these retentions will deduct INR 75 crore from their total budget of INR 120 crore. Earlier, SRH had confirmed the signing of Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins and Abhishek Sharma. They are now eligible to use a Right-to-Match card to potentially re-sign one of their ineligible players during the auction.
The deadline for the ten IPL franchises to submit their list of retained players is October 31. Each franchise is allowed to retain up to six players ahead of the mega-auction for the 2025 season, with a maximum of five internationals and two non-international players.
Although the IPL has set minimum deductions from the auction money for each acquired player, franchises are free to pay their acquired players more than the stipulated amounts.
Pat Cummins, who will continue to captain SRH, led the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2020 in 2024 under the leadership of head coach Daniel Vettori.
Travis Head, who had a remarkable IPL season in 2024, amassed 567 runs at an impressive strike rate of 191.55, cementing his position at the top of the rankings.
Despite his disappointing performance in the IPL final against Kolkata Knight Riders, Head’s overall contributions, including outstanding centuries in the World Test Championship final and ODI World Cup final in 2023, justified his stay.
His value at the 2024 IPL auction was INR 6.8 crore and although his price has more than doubled, it is likely that he would have received even higher bids had he taken part in the auction.
21-year-old Nitish Kumar Reddy saw a significant increase in his value from the INR 20 lakh for which he was originally purchased in 2023. Reddy was named Emerging Player of the Year in IPL 2024, scoring 303 runs at a strike rate of 143 and taking three wickets. Although Reddy missed India’s T20I series in Zimbabwe due to injury, he made his international debut in the home T20I against Bangladesh in October. He is scheduled to travel to Australia with the India A team for two four-day matches starting October 31.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
