Sanjay Bangar, who represented the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the JioStar IPL Auction War Room, has lambasted the IPL 2024 champions. After the defending champs released their skipper, Shreyas Iyer, KKR went all out for another “Iyer” star in the form of Venkatesh Iyer. In fact, they splashed out a humongous fee of Rs 23.75 crore. Venkatesh also became the third-most expensive player in the ongoing IPL auction after Rishabh Pant, who went to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at INR 27 crore, and Shreyas Iyer, who was picked by Punjab Kings (PBKS) at INR 26.75 crore.
IPL Auction 2025: “KKR have bought wrong Iyer”
“I think KKR has bought the wrong Iyer. They don’t seem to have a clear option for captaincy as of now,” said India’s former batting coach Sanjay Bangar while talking at Jio Cinema on Day 2 of the IPL Auction 2025.
Bangar wasn’t absolutely wrong in his opinion. After all, KKR don’t have an out-and-out captaincy option now. The only hopefuls are Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell – three guys who haven’t done anything as skippers in IPL. KKR went till the Rs 10 crore for Shreyas Iyer before he was roped in by the PBKS franchise. While Venky Iyer surely has the potential to become a superstar, he needs to become a bankable bowler to prove his hefty price.
