Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) finished their underwhelming campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 with a crushing 110-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, May 25.
Interestingly, the Knights left out Venkatesh Iyer for the second time this season. He wasn’t picked in the side that faced Chennai Super Kings on May 7 before the IPL was suspended for a week due to security concerns amid the India-Pakistan conflict. After the league’s resumption, KKR’s clash against RCB on May 17 was washed out without the toss being held. On Sunday, Venkatesh was among the Impact Subs. However, Angkrish Raghuvanshi was brought in as the Impact Player.
Aakash Chopra wondered whether the Madhya Pradesh cricketer, who was roped in for a whopping INR 23.75 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction, will be released ahead of next season, as he wasn’t used on Sunday.
“The big news for me from this match was that they didn’t play Venkatesh Iyer. He was in the impact substitute’s list, but you didn’t get him to bat. You got Manish Pandey and Angkrish Raghuvanshi to bat, and you played Ramandeep Singh and Rinku Singh. You played everyone, but you left Venky out,” Chopra said while speaking on his official YouTube channel.
“Is that the indicator that Venky will be released next year? You will release ₹23 crore, and then you may want to buy him back at a lesser price. That is a possibility, but I feel we have got an indicator for next year,” he added.
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Venkatesh played in 11 games for KKR this season. He batted only on seven instances, scoring 142 runs at an average of 20.29 and a strike rate of 139.22. The southpaw only scored a solitary half-century in the campaign. Venkatesh wasn’t used with the ball, and this surprised fans as well as experts.
KKR conceded 278/3 in the first innings as Heinrich Klaasen slammed a 37-ball century. In reply, the defending champions were bowled out for 168. KKR dropped to No. 8 on the points table with 12 points from 14 matches.
