| Players Retained | Remaining Purse for Auction | RTM |
| 5 | 45 Crores | 1 (Can only be used for an uncapped player) |
Hyderabad, after enduring three back to back forgettable seasons, staged a massive turnaround in 2024 that shook the cricketing world. Loading their batting lineup with one power hitter after another, the Patrick Cummins led side went all-out from the first ball with their batting and continued in that fashion throughout their 20 overs. They broke the decade old record of highest total in the league not once, but twice. While they didn’t go on to win the league, they surely turned a new page in T20 batting. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of anticipation regarding the team’s retention choices ahead of the next season and the team didn’t disappoint their fans by keeping most of the big names from their successful 2024 season.
South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen proved to be the most expensive retention in 2024 for 23 crores. World Cup winning captain Patrick Cummins happily took a pay cut to accommodate more players from the core. The team also retained the super explosive pair of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head along with young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who became a part of India’s T20I and Test setup following his good showing for Hyderabad in 2024. The team had to make some hard decisions by letting go of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was with the team for more than a decade, as well as Aiden Markram, who had captained the team in 2023 but with disappointing returns. Even T. Natarajan was released by the franchise. Having retained 5 capped players, the team can only use their Right to Match for an uncapped Indian. Considering the paucity of leg-spinners in auctions generally, the team can use the card to bring back Mayank Markande who picked 20 wickets from 17 matches for the team in the last two seasons.
Just like Mumbai, the team has not only retained 5 players who are sureshot part of the playing XI, but they are also players who are at this point part of their respective national side’s T20I setup. In fact, for their respective roles, Klaasen, Head and Cummins are among the best in the world, while Reddy and Abhishek are two of the brightest prospects in Indian cricket. The team would need batters in the top and middle order as well as bowling options, especially in the spin department. However, with a very small purse, the marquee players are all out of bounds for Hyderabad and they would need to strategize well to get some good names in the squad to support the solid core. With three foreign players who are definitely going to be part of the XI, the management’s focus will be on reliable Indian talent.
Here are some of the players Hyderabad can target in the auction
Nitish Rana – Released by Kolkata, Rana can fit in the Hyderabad middle-order easily with his wide array of shots as well as his maturity and experience of having played for Kolkata in the middle order for several years.
Sai Kishore – The left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu has waited in the wings for a long time in the league and has only 10 matches to show against his name despite his wealth of talent. With Hyderabad looking to bring in talented young Indians into their setup who wouldn’t necessarily trigger a bidding war, Kishore should definitely be on their radar.
Jonny Bairstow – The Englishman tasted success opening the batting for Hyderabad in 2019 and was also involved in the biggest chase in the league’s history last year playing for Punjab. However, despite that, Bairstow is yet to prove himself to be a reliable name in the T20 league. A reunion with Bairstow would give Hyderabad a solid number 3, as Bairstow can play responsibly if the situation demands, as well as go hammer and tongs from the first ball, something that aligns well with the team’s current batting philosophy. At 35, Bairstow is unlikely to attract a lot of bids at the auction and can prove to be a bargain buy for Hyderabad.
Shai Hope – In the last couple of years, Shai Hope has added a new dimension to his batting which has earned him success in the Caribbean Premier League and also earned him a stint with Delhi in 2024. Although the results weren’t particularly impressive with Delhi, the strike rate was still 150. For Hyderabad, Hope can be the stabilizer that their lineup missed in the 2024 Final, a calming presence in the batting lineup who can arrest the slide when needed.
Deepak Chahar – If Hyderabad are unable to secure the services of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, they might look in the direction of the 32-year-old bowling all-rounder. Chahar has consistently been part of Chennai but his 5 wickets from 8 matches in the last season as well as constant battles with injury might not make him an attractive proposition for Chennai and some other franchises. But for Hyderabad, not only does he become an option in the powerplays, but Chahar can provide big hits with the bat too.
The team will also look to get Shahbaz Ahmed back in their team who they had traded for Mayank Dagar with Bangalore ahead of the 2024 season. Ahmed proved to be a valuable addition to the Hyderabad lineup, playing all 16 matches for the team in the season. It would be interesting to see if the team shows interest in Abdul Samad again, a player they backed for five seasons without great results.
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