IPL 2023: Venkatesh Iyer: Man on a Mission playing an aggressive brand of cricket

IPL 2023: Venkatesh Iyer: Man on a Mission playing an aggressive brand of cricket. Venkatesh Iyer has scored 234 runs from 6 games at a strike rate of 168.34 in IPL 2023.

Iyer has 234 runs from 6 games in IPL 2023 so far (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

One of the hardest jobs for any professional cricketer is to make a return to the highest level of the game after an injury setback, given the expectation from the person remains to a certain high level.

The story of Venkatesh Iyer from being one of the prolific characters for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to getting an opportunity as an India player and then getting dropped from the national side was nothing short of a merry-go-round ride.

“IPL is a comeback tournament; I broke my left ankle six months back - the subtalar joint had come out and it was a freakish accident,” Iyer said to the media after the end of the match against Mumbai Indians (MI). “But I am really fortunate to be under a system where the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) takes care of me.”

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The ups and downs of Venkatesh Iyer since 2021

The journey for Venkatesh Iyer in the last two years has never travelled in a straight line; there have been many ups and downs. The year was 2021 when the dynamic left-handed all-rounder from Madhya Pradesh was bought by KKR for his base price of just INR 20 lakh.

Venkatesh displayed serious talent and quality at the opening position. Even though he started the season in the middle order, his powerful act of hitting the balls for a long distance saw the team management rewarding him the opening position as Iyer finished his maiden season of the IPL with 370 runs in just 10 games at an average of 41.11 and strike rate of 128.47, including four fifties and a highest score of 67.

In 2021, couple of nights after making his international T20I debut for India against New Zealand, Venkatesh was retained by Knight Riders for INR 8 crore, a rise of 40 times of his last fee in 2021. But all of a sudden, except the prize of the money, everything seemed to fall down for Iyer in the new season.

It was such a difficult year that saw him suffer the second-season syndrome in IPL 2022 besides losing his place in the Indian team and suffering an injury that threatened to rule him out of the competition. Iyer as a result managed just 182 runs in IPL 2022 at a poor average of 16.55 and strike rate of 107.69 including a lone half-century. The golden India days where he notched up 133 T20I runs in nine games at a strike rate of 162.2 slowly began to get erased out.

“One name worth mentioning here is Abhishek Nayar, he had worked with my batting day in and day out,” Iyer credited the assistant coach, Abhishek Nayar for his comeback. “Even that wasn’t just for batting but for my approach towards the game.”

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Venkatesh Iyer smashes maiden IPL hundred (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

The importance of Venkatesh in the new season in 2023

The new season began with a hard and frustrating news for the Knight Riders with their regular captain Shreyas Iyer getting ruled out of IPL 2023 with back injury. The right-handed batter was one of the reasons for KKR’s strong middle order last season, scoring 401 runs in 14 games at an average of 30.85 and strike rate of 134.56 with three fifties.

Besides his absence from this season, KKR’s prolific all-rounder Andre Russell too has been going through a tough time with considerable number of failures. Someone was required to stand tall in the middle order to boost the confidence of the team and Venkatesh Iyer has done that exactly.

Iyer was in cracking touch during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2022-23 with 189 runs in four games at an average of 63 and strike rate of 161.54 with couple of half-centuries. The important thing for him was to show the same consistency and value even in the IPL against some quality bowling attacks.

Venkatesh Iyer showed his calibre against Gujarat Titans

Venkatesh Iyer has been fabulous throughout this season so far with 234 runs in six games at an average of 39 and strike rate of 168.35 including one fifty and one marvellous century.

Kolkata’s jaw dropping victory against Gujarat Titans (GT) will be famously known for the five sixes of Rinku Singh in the last over but the Knights might not have reached that stage had Venkatesh Iyer not played such an entertaining knock under pressure. Coming at 20/1 in the third over, Iyer opened his account with a huge six over third man before pulling Yash Dayal for the same result over fine leg before backing it with a boundary in the mid-wicket region.

The best contribution from his side was attacking Rashid Khan in his first three overs; Iyer managed to whack Rashid over mid-wicket for a six before celebrating his fifty with another six down the ground against Joshua Little. By the time he was dismissed, Venkatesh Iyer had nailed 83 runs in 40 balls with the help of eight boundaries and five sixes thanks to his 100-run partnership with Nitish Rana in 55 balls. It was easy to forget that knock with all the chaos that occurred in the last over, but Venkatesh was one of the reasons for the game to reach that point.

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Iyer exhibited the value of power-hitting to smash electrifying century

Smoking Arjun Tendulkar over long-off, Venkatesh Iyer reached 19 in just eight deliveries before he picked up an unfortunate injury as the ball hit him on his knees. Even though he was struggling, Iyer kept on smashing as he hammered Duan Jansen for two sixes in a single over in the long-off and long-on region.

With a boundary cut to fine leg, Iyer managed to reach his fifty in just 23 balls before slogging Riley Meredith for two back-to-back sixes over deep backward square leg. There was a time in the innings till the tenth over when only Iyer was smashing those boundaries from the batting line-up of Kolkata.

Wickets were falling from the other end but Iyer wasn’t bothered much about that as he kept on sending the ball out of the ground. After a six over deep mid-wicket against Meredith, Venkatesh Iyer reached his maiden IPL century in 49 balls becoming the first KKR player since Brendon McCullum in 2008 to score a century in this league.

“I just have gratitude for whatever I have,” Iyer expressed. “I just want to go out there and explore what I can do on a cricket field.”

With the impact player rule, Venkatesh spent the second innings resting in the dugout and saw their poor fast bowlers flown all around the park as Mumbai Indians reached the target quite easily. That was where the other KKR batters should look to support Iyer in the middle to let him play his natural game while they could plan for a calculative way. But for now, Venkatesh Iyer coming from that serious injury has genuinely looked to be in golden touch.

Kolkata Knight Riders will play their next game against Chennai Super Kings on April 23 at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

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