Former India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra doesn’t expect the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) to retain speedster Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. He also feels Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, and Abhishek Sharma might be their preferred retention options as well. Notably, SRH finished as the runner-up in IPL 2024, losing to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final. Bhuvneshwar was their third-highest wicket-taker, claiming 11 wickets at an economy rate of 9.35 in 16 games as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “They will retain Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen and Abhishek Sharma. I think these four should be retained because you cannot let them go anywhere. They have a destructive team. Both left-handed openers come and hit sixes and then Heinrich Klaasen comes and destroys.”
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“Aiden Markram – how many overseas will you be able to keep? Don’t know what rule is going to come about the number of overseas that can be retained. They will definitely try to retain these three or four names. I don’t think you will retain Bhuvi because it’s a three-year game. I feel the auction and retention are going to be very interesting this time,” the former India opener further added.
Travis Head (567), Abhishek Sharma (484), and Klaasen (479) were SRH’s top run-scorers in IPL 2024. T Natarajan (19) and Cummins (18) claimed more wickets than Bhuvneshwar for the franchise. However, Aakash Chopra was also asked about the Delhi Capitals’ potential retentions. While saying that Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar could be additional retention options, he added that he wouldn’t want to retain Mitchell Marsh and David Warner as well.
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“Axar (Patel), Rishabh Pant, and Jake Fraser-McGurk, Khaleel (Ahmed) maybe and Kuldeep (Yadav) – that’s it. So Axar, Kuldeep, Rishabh, and Jake Fraser-McGurk, and then depending on how many you have. Khaleel is there and Mukesh (Kumar) is there. I will let both Mitchell Marsh and David Warner go. Why worry about it, that’s what I feel,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
