Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore has explained the reason behind acquiring all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for a huge price in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. The IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah saw several surprise selections made, one of which was Venkatesh’s return to KKR. Throughout the bitter bidding war with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, KKR remained committed to bringing the all-rounder back to Eden Gardens. After successfully signing a universal contract, KKR said the player had given them an “ultimatum” ahead of the auction.
After eliminating competition from the rest of the franchises, Venkatesh was sold to KKR, which broke the bank by buying him for Rs 23.75 crore, the fourth highest in the history of the cash-rich league.
Mysore explained his decision to do everything possible to get Venaktesh to return it and said during a press conference: “Auctions are conducted only in this way. At the end of the day, it’s about what kind of player you want and what type of player you want.” … This (prices) surprises you all the time. When you have wage caps like this and they keep going up, prices are going to go up.”
“For us, it was about preserving our core. We retained six players and returned 2-3 players from last year. That was the idea. We definitely didn’t want to end up in a situation where we didn’t need him. But overall everything is balanced,” he added.
During KKR’s title-winning campaign in IPL 2024, Venkatesh made 370 runs at an average of 46.25 at a strike rate of 158.80. Mysore also said that Venaktesh had given KKR an ultimatum before the auction.
“They proved on the field what they can do. You saw this in the championship year, and once we also reached the final, in 2021. He (Venkatesh) was a very helpful and amazing guy in the team. clearly gave us an ultimatum: “If you don’t choose me, I will be very sad.” So we didn’t want him to be sad and we are also very happy,” Mysore said.
In the first playoff, when KKR faced SRH, Venkatesh bowled an unbeaten 51 overs to ensure they chased the target with over six overs to spare.
In the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Venkatesh smashed an unbeaten 52 to secure KKR’s third IPL title. He would like to repeat his performance and justify his high price.
With ANI inputs
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