IPL is a stage to identify the young talents and make them ready for international cricket. The Indian Premier League, since its inception in 2008, has given a lot of youngsters the opportunity to play international cricket. Over the years, we’ve seen lots of youngsters shine in the IPL and made their name in world cricket. Yesterday, one such opportunity was given to Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer.
The 26-year-old made his IPL debut for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Ventakesh Iyer had a debut to remember. Opening the batting with Gill, he smashed an unbeaten 41 off 27 balls, guiding his side to the victory. Since the start, he looked confident and played few audacious shots in his innings.
Who is Venkatesh Iyer? Kolkata Knight Riders’ new debutant in IPL 2021
Hailing from Indore, Venkatesh Iyer is a left-handed batter who bowls right-arm medium pace. He made his T20 debut for Madhya Pradesh in the 2015 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Railways in Indore. Iyer returned with figures of 1/21 on his T20 debut. He also represented Madhya Pradesh at the U-16 level before receiving a place in the senior team.
“I decided to give up my CA and pursue an MBA in finance and gave a lot of entrance exams, had decent scores, and enrolled into a good college. I was fortunate the faculty liked cricket, and they saw I was doing well and gave me the cushion by taking care of my attendance, preparing notes, and rescheduling exams,” said Iyer in an interview with ESPNcricinfo
“Honestly, I didn’t have to put in a lot of effort to manage both. I’m not bragging, I’ve always been a bright student, I can’t say the same about my cricket. That is the kind of confidence I have in my academics. Had there been no cricket, I would have landed in an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) or IIM (Indian Institute of Management)” he added further
Venkatesh Iyer caught public attention during the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2020-21. He opened the innings for his team and played a blistering knock of 198 off just 146 balls against Punjab and stunned all the cricket fans. And with this knock, he broke the record of David Warner (197) of highest List A score closest to a double century. He also took 2/24 with the ball in the same match.
Domestic career
Apart from this, he also had a good run in the 2020/21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Iyer scored 87* against Goa and 88* against Saurashtra and helped his side to finish in the Top 2. In the IPL 2021 auction, KKR bought Iyer at his base price of Rs 20 lakh. He did not get a chance in the first phase of IPL 2021. But when he got the opportunity against RCB in the second leg, he rose to the occasion and guided his team to a victory.
In First-class cricket, Venkatesh Iyer has played ten matches, scoring 545 runs at an average of 36.33. He also took seven wickets, with his best figures in an innings being 2/22. He has played 24 List-A matches for Madhya Pradesh, aggregating 849 runs. In T20 cricket, he scored 724 runs at a strike rate of 137.64. He has 21 T20 wickets to his name and at an economy rate of 6.98.
