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Venkatesh Iyer has experienced a yo-yo of emotions through his three years in the spotlight. As a little known batter who helped Kolkata Knight Riders blaze their way in the 2021 IPL playoffs, he earned an India cap in white-ball cricket, only to be found short at the international level.
The Madhya Pradesh player then suffered the second season syndrome in IPL (370 runs in 10 games in 2021at an average of 41.11 dipped to 182 runs in 12 games at 16.55).
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He was then out with a serious ankle injury for six months. He had now begun to rediscover his old in a tournament he says as his comeback forum.
Had Iyer taken up the corporate job offer his MBA in finance brought, he wouldn’t have had to chart an unpredictable course a career in sport can throw up.
But not having chosen the beaten path, the MP all-rounder got to experience the upside – his IPL salary rose 40 times to ₹8 crore after his sensational first season.
There’s a lot to like about Iyer in the choices he makes. He turned left-handed in his early years, copying idol Sourav Ganguly. “I have gratitude for what I have. I never thought I will play for India after what I did in the IPL (2021) in Abu Dhabi. I just want to explore what I can do on the cricket field,” he said after his towering 51-ball 104 in a losing cause against Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
One reason his first taste of international cricket didn’t go to plan (133 runs, 9 T20Is) was him being unable to switch to a role in the middle-order. Although Iyer refuses to identify a preferred batting number saying “choosing a particular position is putting myself in a comfort zone”, it is evident that taking the new ball on with an aggressive mindset works best for him.
Incidentally, an injury to skipper Shreyas Iyer has meant Venkatesh being trusted to fill in his shoes, carrying the same level of intent.
“Shreyas is not in the team, he is injured and someone had to take up the role of No 3, which is an important role,” he said. “When he (coach Chandrakant Pandit) told me that I have to bat at No 3, the intent did not change; you have to go after the bowling in the powerplay, and once I analyse that the ball is not swinging, I take my chances and get the team off to a flier.”
That’s exactly what the left-handed batter did at the Wankhede stadium, delivering nine sixes. He used debutant left-arm pacer Duan Jansen’s angle to his advantage and stood back to hit horizonal maximums against others, using his reach.
“The tactics are defined then and there, it is a red soil pitch so I had to play much squarer and not straighter,” he said.
His hundred comes on the back of his attacking 40-ball 83 against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad which helped KKR chase down 205.
Crediting KKR assistant coach Abhishek Nayar for helping in his approach to batting, Iyer said he is no longer “thinking what’s going to happen in the 16th over, standing in the 6th over”.
Iyer’s hundred is only the second for KKR, after Brendon McCullum’s memorable 158 struck 16 summers ago.
“I am glad Venky became the second KKR man to get a hundred,” KKR captain Nitish Rana said. “In the coming days, one of us will make one too.”
