Kolkata Knight Riders, in IPL 2023, couldn't make it to the playoffs. But the team, under the leadership of Nitish Rana and new head coach Chandrakant Pandit, played some exciting cricket and fought well right through. Venkatesh Iyer was one of the top performers of the side this season with the bat scoring 404 runs at a strike rate of 145.84 with a century and a couple of fifties to his name. He mostly played as an Impact Player during IPL 2023 and more often created the required impact.
This was also the time when the cricketer from Madhya Pradesh was making a comeback from an injury layoff and did his job rather perfectly taking up the responsibility. In an exclusive interview with India TV, Venkatesh Iyer has opened up on his IPL stint with KKR, his injury and a lot of other aspects of his cricketing career.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
- What was your reaction to the amazing finish to the IPL with Ravindra Jadeja winning it for MS Dhoni and CSK? Whom were you backing to win the trophy?
Special moment. Obviously GT was playing the better cricket throughout the tournament. I was backing GT to win, but I think what CSK did, what Ravindra Jadeja did then was unbelievable, especially at the beginning of the tournament. No one gave them a chance with their bowling attack, but to win the IPL is something which is amazing and all credit should actually go to MS Dhoni, the captain.
- Coming to your IPL stint, you scored 404 runs in IPL 2023 and mostly batted at 3 for KKR. A bit of a different role compared to earlier seasons. How was the experience? How did you prepare for it?
Yeah, I was ready to open. But in the beginning of the season Shreyas was injured and I was asked to take up the number three spot and I've always been flexible as a batsman. I wanted to, you know, contribute irrespective of the position and my preparation included playing with the new ball and then working on the spinners and even playing death overs. I think it was a complete preparation and I worked with Abhishek Nair a lot.
- You sustained an ankle injury last year that also hampered your domestic season. How did you keep yourself upbeat during this period?
Yeah, it was a freakish injury and injuries tend to bring you down physically and mentally more than the physical part. The mental stress is something that you experience a lot. You know, you look at your other friends playing cricket and you are not being able to move out of bed, then doing rehab. But I tried to keep myself busy and developed a new skill. I tried to read more, learn about other things, learn a new skill. I tried a lot of cooking and stuff, but yeah, once I was able to walk and jog a lot, I got the belief that I can actually hit the field again. And that's what happened.
- You mostly played this season as an Impact Player and didn't bowl at all. Was there anything to do with team combination or any kind of injury is keeping you away from bowling?
Not really. I think it was part of the team combination. Obviously, with the coming of impact player, all rounders didn't get to bowl a lot. You have one more specialist bowler in the team. So impact player rule was utilized in such a way. But all in all, I think always wanted to bowl, just that I didn't get to bowl a lot.
- You have now played under captaincy of Eoin Morgan, Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana in IPL for KKR. How would you rate their captaincy and how are they different from each other?
Ya Different styles of captaincy, obviously. Moggs (Morgan) has international experience leading a team and Nitish Rana with his first stint as captain. He's a team man, you know. Everyone loves him, he is very approachable as a captain and he tried his level best. I'm extremely happy and and I'm really proud of him.
- You played 9 T20Is and 2 ODIs for India so far. With T20 World Cup in 2024, are you expecting a recall to the Indian team?
Well, I'm not expecting anything. Honestly, the only thought in my mind is to get fit, get 200%, start bowling, and contribute for whichever side I play. I don't look too far ahead, it's just that I'll take one day at a time. One practice session at a time and keep moving forward.
- You had already worked with Chandrakant Pandit before. How exciting was it to reunite with him in the KKR camp?
Very nice, you know. I am extremely happy for him that his tactics have now got a platform at an international level and he’s led an IPL team as the head coach. I’m really happy for him and we played some great cricket under him. Amazing tactics. It’s just that certain things didn’t go our way, otherwise we could have ended up on the winning side.
- Rinku Singh had a great season as well. He was the highest scorer for KKR in IPL 2023. Your views on him? If you can, Please explain the moment when he hit those five sixes in the last over.
He's the best thing that happened to KKR this year, You know, amazing guy. He's a gem of a person. He has shown time and time again that good things happen to good people. And yeah, I can't forget the moment when he hit 5 sixes and I think we ran onto the field as if we had won the IPL. I was extremely happy for him.
- Venkatesh Iyer - A finisher or a top-order batter or a complete all-rounder- What role do you prefer?
Obviously Venkatesh, a complete all-rounder and I want to contribute for the team in all three departments irrespective of the batting position, be it opening, middle order, lower down the order to finish the games, bowl even in the power play and death overs. You know I want to be a complete all rounder really like what Hardik Pandya is doing. I do find him as one of the best all rounders going around in the world and I really want to replicate what he's doing.
- Apart from KKR, any other team you would like to play for or you dream to play for? and Why?
I think I get whatever I want in KKR. The atmosphere is amazing, the management is great. I really don't want to look beyond any other team than KKR.
