The rise of Venkatesh Iyer: Kolkata Knight Riders has been an absolutely revamped side as the tournament resumed its second phase. After a rollicking display of bowling against both Bangalore and Mumbai Indians, the batters have been in merciless form to propel Kolkata to fiery starts in the powerplay.
If there is one man who has completely changed the course of the game, that is the newcomer, Venkatesh Iyer. The young man has done exactly what Kolkata needed desperately in the first phase.
Iyer hammered an unbeaten 41 in his debut match against RCB and has backed it up with a seraphic knock against Mumbai that has left one of the best bowling line-ups of the tournament reeling in agony.
Newcomers aren’t generally this expressive in the tournament but if cricket has always rekindled history, Sanath Jayasuriya will be a decent reference, especially in the context of blazing the trail for dynamicity in the opening overs.
Here are a few things that you must know about KKR’s debutant, Venkatesh Iyer.
Venkatesh Iyer’s IPL auction price
The young lad hailing all the way from Madhya Pradesh was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders for his base price of Rs 20 lakhs.
Venkatesh Iyer home town
The young debutant in KKR’s echelons was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh and also represents their state team in the domestic circuit.
Venkatesh Iyer state team
As mentioned earlier, Iyer was a part of the Madhya Pradesh state team. In fact, he still continues to thrive for them after making a successful transition from their youth team.
Venkatesh Iyer age
Iyer was born on the auspicious day of Christmas. His birthday reads December 25th, 1994 and his current age is 26 years and 272 days.
Venkatesh Iyer stats
The young man stemming from Madhya Pradesh boasts of impressive statistics as he has managed to feature in 10 first-class matches with 545 runs at a decent average of 36 plus. His figures skyrocket to 849 runs from 24 matches at an average of 47.16. The man just turned up the T20 flame with his two consecutive superlative performances against RCB and Mumbai Indians. He has so far played 39 T20 matches and has blasted 765 runs at an excellent average of 38 plus and a staggering strike rate of 138.33.
Venkatesh Iyer education
Iyer has completed his B.Com from DAVV University in Indore and his schooling from St. Paul Higher Secondary. He cleared his CA intermediate, but had to drop his finals because he chose the game. In fact, he also enrolled for MBA at the Institute of Management Studies.
In an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, he cited, “I decided to give up my CA and pursue an MBA in finance. I 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.”
He concluded by saying, “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).”
