Bought for a whopping price of INR 23.75 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Venkatesh Iyer has admitted that there is pressure to live up to the expectations. After multiple failures with the bat, the batter showed a glimpse of what he can do, scoring 60 runs off just 29 balls to help KKR put a 200-run total on the board against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). When asked about the top price tag and the expectations that come with it, Venkatesh gave a smashing reply in the press conference on Thursday.
“Once IPL starts, it doesn’t matter whether you were sold for Rs 20 lakh or 20 crore. The money doesn’t define how you will play cricket,” Iyer said in the post-match press conference.
Venkatesh also chose to highlight the excellent work his teammate Angkrish Raghuvanshi has done so far this season despite coming to the team for a fee of INR 3 crore. While Iyer remains the team’s most expensive buy of the auction, he said that the price tag doesn’t mean he needs to fire in every single game.
“We have a youngster called Angrish Raghuvanshi, who is doing really well. I know that the question of high payment and expectations will come up a lot, but I am a player who wants to contribute to the team’s success. There will be tricky situations when my team would require me to play out a few balls. If I can do that even after not scoring that many runs, I have done the job for my team. It doesn’t mean that I’m the highest-paid cricketer I will have to score in every match. It’s about the impact.
Venkatesh also admitted that there’s pressure on him to succeed but he is only focussed on contributing to the team’s cause.
“Yes, there is some pressure, I won’t lie. The pressure not about money, it is about how can contribute to the team’s success,” he added.
Venkatesh took SRH skipper Pat Cummins to the cleaners, clobbering him for 20 runs in a single over. But, the batter said that he focusses on the ball, not the bowler.
“I don’t look at who is bowling. The focus is always on what is being bowled looking at the field placement,” he said.
“The main communication came from Ajinkya and Angrish when they were batting in the middle. They said it’s not an easy pitch to bat. The ball was sticking. It was turning. So it was important for us not to chew up balls but at the same time understand what the pitch has to offer. We have that luxury because we have Rinku, Russell, and Ramandeep in the backend. We have an engine room that can demolish any bowling attack,” Iyer asserted.
