IPL 2025 SRH Retained Players List – Sunrisers Hyderabad Plan

Overseas players in focus as we look at the Sunrisers Hyderabad plan and IPL 2025 SRH retained players list full scenarios.

So near, but yet so far. That’s how the campaign for the Sunrisers Hyderabad ended in 2024. SRH didn’t have a settled team before the start of the tournament. They had a change in Captain in the form of Pat Cummins. But the team defined all odds with their glorious bold play throughout the tournament, and they almost pulled off their second trophy before KKR ended their hopes.

However, when it felt that SRH had built a strong core, the IPL 2025 Mega Auction would mostly end their hope of continuing with the same squad. No matter how hard SRH try, they may not be able to have more than 10-12 good players from the current squad setup. The first battle that SRH will face is the list of retained players that they will have to finalize ahead of the Mega Auction.

It is no secret that SRH are an Overseas players-centric team, and they do have quality Overseas players in their side. Among Indian names, there is literally none who is currently representing the Indian team regularly. So, considering all possible probabilities, let’s look at the IPL 2025 SRH retained players list full possible scenarios that Sunrisers Hyderabad may plan ahead of the upcoming Auction. 

IPL 2025 SRH Retained Players List – Sunrisers Hyderabad Plan Revealed

1st Scenario – 4 Players Retained

The Sunrisers Hyderabad team at this very moment don’t have any solid Indian name that can act as a show-stopper. For example, Mumbai Indians have Hardik Pandya, CSK have Ruturaj Gaikwad, Gujarat Titans have Shubman Gill, Delhi Capitals have Rishabh Pant, and so on. The best Indian player that SRH have right is either Abhishek Sharma or Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Unfortunately, Bhuvi doesn’t feature in the Indian team anymore, and Abhishek is taking baby steps in International cricket.

So, SRH will once again have to rely on their Overseas players as a part of their Auction strategy. Thankfully, unlike the Indian players, the Overseas stars are solid names who are already representing their country regularly. Among the star Overseas players that SRH have, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, and Travis Head will be the best three names that they would like to retain.

Now, if SRH were to retain only 4 players, they wouldn’t be able to retain all three Overseas players. So, if they have to let go of one of these, it will mostly be Travis Head. Cummins and Klaasen were the key players for SRH in 2024, and should get the priority from a retention perspective if only two are allowed. Meanwhile, for the other two options, SRH will mostly look for Abhishek Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Both are very much important for SRH, and have been doing well as well.  

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2nd Scenario – 5 Players Retained

Talking about the second scenario where 5 players are retained, SRH will now get the flexibility to retain one more Overseas player, and that will be Travis Head. There is no strong Indian player in the team that can match the ability of Travis Head, so him as the fifth option seems a no-brainer. Other than Head, SRH have Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Glenn Phillips, and Fazalhaq, but Head will get the upper hand above these. 

3rd Scenario – 6 Players Retained

Finally, talking about the third scenario about retaining six players, SRH will have to choose from Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, T Natarajan, Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, and Rahul Tripathi. Now, Natarajan is a safe option as he brings a lot of experience to the table. But Nitish Reddy impressed with his dual role last year. So, if an extra uncapped player rule is added, Nitish can be retained in that category. If not, Nitish should get retained above Natarajan as the sixth player. 

Also, important to highlight Washington Sundar, who was denied a lot of opportunities to represent the franchise in IPL 2024. Given his ill-treatment, it seems SRH are least interested in retaining him even as he remains the only Indian player to be representing the Indian team on a regular basis. But in case SRH change their mind, Sundar should get a go above Bhuvi and Nitish. 

IPL 2025 SRH Retained Players List – Best Strategy

1. Pat Cummins (o)
2. Heinrich Klaasen (o)
3. Abhishek Sharma
4. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
5. Travis Head (o)
6. Nitish Reddy

So, that’s about the best retain players list for SRH for IPL 2025. Overall, 4 is the bare minimum that SRH will look to retain, and given an option they would want all three Overseas players as mentioned above among retentions. Other than these six, from the uncapped players, SRH will look to retain Abdul Samad, Akash Singh, and Anmolpreet Singh. 

Thanks for reading! What’s your take on the retained players list scenarios for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for IPL 2025? Please email your thoughts to business@cricalytics.com

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