Kolkata Knight Riders played a huge gamble with Venkatesh Iyer. They released him only to break the banks for him at the IPL auction, paying a huge sum of Rs 23.75 crore. In a way, KKR released their title-winning captain, Shreyas Iyer, to make space for the other Iyer. But the big buck pressure was on Venaktesh in IPL 2025. With scores of just 6 and 3 in two innings, he seemed to be another big-money failure. However, Venkatesh proved his doubters wrong with a 29-ball 60 in the KKR vs SRH match on Thursday. His take-down of Pat Cummins, where he hammered 21 runs in the 19th over, would be talked about for a long time.
As assistant coach Dwayne Bravo called for the batters to use cricket smarts after KKR were bundled out for 116 vs Mumbai Indians. He wanted the batters to use their brains and not just go hammering from ball 1. Venkatesh, short of runs and confidence, did just that. Venkatesh was batting on 20 off 16 after 17 overs. Then he switched gears.
VENKATESH IYER SMASHED 4,6,4,4,2 VS CUMMINS TO BRING UP A 25 BALL FIFTY.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 3, 2025pic.twitter.com/kQNmNROTU5
40 off last 13 balls
After scoring 20 off the first 16 balls, Venkatesh unleashed. He scored his last 40 runs off just 13 balls. In the first 10 deliveries, he scored at a strike rate of just 110.00. Then, he switched gears to hit at a strike rate of 190.00 in the next 10 deliveries. Then came the blitz as he scored 30 runs off just 9 deliveries at a strike rate of 333.33.
“I did not get a lot of runs in the first two games, so just wanted to get a feel of the wicket. Credit has to go to Rahane and Raghuvanshi for the way they handled. SRH bowled well, and the ball was holding. The message was to take your time and then go all-out,” Venkatesh Iyer said at the innings break.
Lighting up Eden Gardens with some fireworks
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 3, 2025
Sit back and enjoy Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer's super strikingup for Iyer in the process!
Updateshttps://t.co/jahSPzdeys#TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH | @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/AAAqnOsRy8
It was the 19th over where he switched to beast mode. With the ball holding on a slow Eden Gardens pitch, Cummins thought a slower-short ball could be effective. But not against Venkatesh. The Madhya Pradesh batter scooped that for a four and followed up with a six and two more boundaries in consecutive deliveries to put Sunrisers Hyderabad under pressure. His 60-run knock had seven fours and three sixes.
Venkatesh Iyer’s year-wise stats
Iyer has been a consistent performer for KKR. In the last two seasons, he has scored 404 and 370 runs, respectively. However, with the pice tag coming in, venkatesh will be mindful of his stats in IPL 2025.
| Series | Inns | Runs | Avg | 100s | 50s | HS | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | 370 | 41.11 | 0 | 4 | 67 | 128.47 |
| 2022 | 12 | 182 | 16.55 | 0 | 1 | 50* | 107.69 |
| 2023 | 14 | 404 | 28.86 | 1 | 2 | 104 | 145.85 |
| 2024 | 13 | 370 | 46.25 | 0 | 4 | 70 | 158.80 |
