IPL 2025: KRR Player Venkatesh Iyer Gets Emotional After Not Being Retained

KRR Player Venkatesh Iyer Get Emotional After Not Being Retained: The challenge of holding a huge auction immediately following an Indian Premier League (IPL) championship is that a team must say goodbye to a number of the winning team’s players.

This time around, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the IPL 2024 winners, have been like that.

Even though they were able to keep six of its mainstays, KKR was forced to let go of players like Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, and Mitchell Starc. After being let go, the latter, who has been with the team since 2021, became upset.

Sunil Gavaskar " Venkatesh Iyer had played for India and was looking slightly overconfident, and was getting out because of that. His batting and thinking have changed now and I believe he can once again become an India prospect because he bowls as well."pic.twitter.com/mY9zvx6fbI

— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) May 27, 2024

“KKR is a whole family in this instance. It’s not just the 16, 20 or 25 players, but also the management, the staff, the guys behind the scenes. There is so much emotion behind that that it kind of makes me a little teary-eyed that my name is not on the retention list,” said a heartfelt Venkatesh Iyer to RevSportz.

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“Because there is no video of KKR bidding for me in my first auction. During this auction I would sit like an excited kid to see if KKR put up the paddle for me and if they do, it will mean the world to me,” he added.

KKR has benefited greatly from Venkatesh’s contributions during the past four IPL seasons, reaching the final in 2021 and winning the cup in 2024. In the 2024 IPL final, he even hit the game-winning runs.

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Venkatesh acknowledged that the franchise had made strong retentions, but he emphasized the emotion and sense of family at the Knight Riders.

“The honest thing, as someone who analyses cricket as well, is that KKR has had a very good retention. They have covered 14-16 overs with the ball, and with the bat, they have covered five positions,” said Venkatesh.

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“I would’ve loved to be on the retention list, KKR has given me the big breakthrough and I’ve given everything for them,” he added right after.

With four fifties and 370 runs with a strike rate of 158.80 in the second half of the 2024 Indian Premier League, Venkatesh had an incredible second half.

“The doors are open, and if I have a good auction. I may still end up playing for the team I love the most,” said Venkatesh.

Source