‘If you don’t choose me…’: KKR CEO reveals Venkatesh Iyer’s ‘ultimatum’ behind Rs 23.75 billion bid

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore has explained the rationale for acquiring all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer at a high price in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. The IPL 2025 mega auction held in Jeddah featured several surprise selections and Venkatesh’s return to KKR was one of them. Through a fierce bidding war with Royal Challengers Bangalore, KKR were willing to spend big to bring the all-rounder back to Eden Gardens. After successfully signing the all-rounder, KKR revealed that the player had given him an ‘ultimatum’ ahead of the auction.

After shaking off competition from other franchises, Venkatesh was sold to KKR, who splashed out on him by acquiring him for Rs 23.75 crore, the fourth-highest fee in the history of the cash-rich league.

Explaining their decision to do everything in their power to bring back Benaktesh, Mysore told a press conference: “An auction is the only way to go. At the end of the day, what matters is the player you want and the type of player you want.” It always amazes me how prices continue to rise as salary caps continue to rise like this. ”

“For us, it was about keeping our core. We kept six players and brought in a couple of players from last year. That was the idea. We absolutely wanted to keep him. We didn’t want to put ourselves in a situation we didn’t want to be in.”But overall it’s balanced,” he added.

During KKR’s title-winning campaign in IPL 2024, Venkatesh smashed 370 runs at an average of 46.25 and a strike rate of 158.80. Mysore also revealed that KKR was given an ultimatum by Venaktesh ahead of the auction.

“They’ve proven what they can do on the field. You saw it in a championship year and in one year they reached the finals in 2021. He (Venkatesh) is very important in the team. He gave us an ultimatum: “If you don’t choose me, I will be very sad.” So we didn’t want to make him sad and we are also very happy,” Mysore said.

When KKR played against SRH in the first playoffs, Venkatesh played an unbeaten 51 and certainly chased down the target with over six overs to spare.

In the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Venkatesh smashed an unbeaten 52 to ensure KKR clinched their third IPL title. He will be hoping to repeat his performance and live up to that hefty price tag.

With ANI input