Venkatesh Iyer became the third-most expensive player at the IPL 2025 mega auction, following Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, as defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured him for a massive ₹23.75 crore.
Starting with a base price of ₹2 crore, KKR quickly entered the bidding, followed by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at ₹6 crore. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) joined the battle at ₹8.50 crore, but after LSG dropped out, KKR persisted.
Despite RCB’s efforts, the three-time defending champions successfully reclaimed their all-rounder. Earlier, Punjab Kings purchased Shreyas for ₹26.75 crore, while LSG signed Pant for ₹27 crore.
Since joining KKR in 2020, Venkatesh Iyer has been a key player for the franchise, impressing everyone during his debut season in Dubai. In his 10 matches in the 2020 IPL, he scored 350 runs, helping KKR reach the final. Overall, Venkatesh has accumulated 1326 runs in 51 matches, all for KKR.
In 2023, he became the second KKR batter in 15 years to score a century in the IPL. He also played a crucial role in the IPL 2024 final, scoring a fifty in KKR’s victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In addition to Venkatesh Iyer, KKR also acquired South African Quinton de Kock for ₹3.6 crore and Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz for ₹2 crore. It marked a homecoming for Gurbaz, who had previously been part of the KKR squad in recent seasons.
Venky Mysore on Venkatesh Iyer buy
“The auctions are this way only. At the end of the day, it is about the player you want and the type of player you want. It [the prices] surprises you all the time. When you have salary caps that keep going up, the prices will expand.”
“For us, it was about keeping our core. We kept six players and have brought 2-3 players back from last year. That was the thinking. We definitely didn’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we would not want him back. But on an overall basis, it all balances out.”
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