Kolkata Knight Riders' newly appointed head coach Abhishek Nair recently talked about an old episode that contributed to the franchise bringing in the all-rounder. Venkatesh Iyer In their set-up. The Madhya Pradesh cricketer spent five seasons of the Indian Premier League with the franchise before being released ahead of the mini-auction for the 2026 season.
Abhishek revealed an incident from a trial ahead of the 2021 season in which Venkatesh volunteered to bowl the crucial final over in a practice match, which left a strong impression on the then assistant coach. Despite Venkatesh failing to defend the score, Abhishek liked the fact that the all-rounder was willing to take on extra responsibilities during a difficult situation.
“Actually I picked him because of his attitude. On the first day, Venkatesh Iyer came with swag; he performed, but he never looked at us or tried to please anyone. I thought he was a guy with a lot of attitude. On the second day, we gave him a game. In the last over, when our bowler cramped, Venky Yelled from the boundary, 'I will bowl the last over.' He bowled and gave away 18 runs, but what I liked was his willingness to face adversity,” Nair shared via The Great Indian Cricket Show on Doordarshan.
Nair concluded, “The trial mattered less to him than proving to himself that he was doing the right thing. That conviction stayed with me.”
Venkatesh, who was selected KKR For just Rs 20 lakh in 2021, his stock saw a rapid rise and was worth Rs 8 crore in 2022. He was released in the mega auction ahead of IPL 2025 and fetched a huge sum of Rs 23.75 crore.
His best season for the franchise came in 2024, the same year KKR finally clinched the title. Coming to bat in the middle order, he scored 370 runs in 13 innings at an excellent strike rate of 158.79. However, the 2025 season ended in an undesirable manner for both KKR and Iyer, leading to the cricketer's release.
Barring Venkatesh, the other key players released by the three-time IPL champions are Andre Russell, Quinton de Kock, Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Spencer Johnson. KKR will enter the auction with Rs 64.30 crore. They retained only 12 players from the 2025 unit, leaving them with a maximum of 13 vacancies that they can fill.
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