SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is hoping to get his first taste of international cricket, having been called up to India’s 15-man squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. The first T20I will be played on Sunday in Gwalior, but former India opener Aakash Chopra said SRH would be praying that Nitish doesn’t make his debut. For the unversed, if Nitish makes his debut, SRH won’t be able to retain him as an uncapped player heading into the IPL 2025 mega auction.

“They would be praying that Nitish Kumar Reddy remains uncapped. They would be saying – ‘Please don’t play him in the T20I series’. Just like Harshit Rana, his name is also there in that team and if he gets a chance to play, he will also become capped,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

As per IPL’s latest retention rules, a franchise can retain an uncapped player for Rs 4 crore. A franchise will have to pay 18 crore, 14 crore and 11 crore, respectively, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd retention picks. Meanwhile, the 4th and 5th retention will be paid Rs 18 crore and 14 crore, respectively.

If Nitish does make his debut, SRH would have to pay at least Rs 11 crore for the youngster.

Chopra also suggested that SRH should prioritise the retentions of captain Pat Cummins and young India batter Abhishek Sharma.

“They have to firstly retain the captain and Abhishek Sharma. You have to retain Heinrich Klaasen and it’s great if you can get Travis Head. These four names come to my mind, to begin with. Pat Cummins, since he is the captain, and he managed the team very well, you will want to retain him,” he added.

India T20I squad vs Bangladesh: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, JItesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav