"Makes me teary-eyed that my name is not on the retention list" - Venkatesh Iyer opens up on KKR's pre-IPL 2025 auction decisions

Venkatesh Iyer was KKR
Venkatesh Iyer was KKR's crunch-game man in IPL 2024. Image courtesy: BCCI's official website

All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer felt emotional after seeing his name not in Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)'s retention list for IPL 2025. But he said that he was trying to be pragmatic about the realities of the league and hopes that the franchise will get him back in the auction later this month.

KKR retained Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakarvarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh ahead of the October 31 deadline. Venkatesh Iyer, who joined KKR in 2021 and was retained ahead of now-superstar Shubman Gill the following year, has over 1300 runs and three wickets from 51 IPL matches.

“This is a family," Venkatesh told Rev Sports. "There’s so much emotion. It kind of makes me teary-eyed that my name is not on the retention list but I am a practical guy. I understand how it works. I was on the receiving end of on being one of the retentions in 2022 and I knew how it feels to be retained and to be left out as well.
"So, I think KKR have had a great retention, really happy for that. I would love to be there and the doors are open. If I have a good auction then I might still end up playing for the team I love the most."

Venkatesh broke out as an opener but has had to slowly shift into the middle-order in the last three editions. More than his raw statistics, though, KKR have recently felt Venkatesh's importance in crunch, high-pressure matches.

Last year, he scored half-centuries in each of KKR's toughest fixtures -- the final (52* off 26), the first Qualifier (51* off 28), and the away league game at the Wankhede Stadium against Mumbai Indians (70 off 52).

"KKR has had a very good retention" - Venkatesh Iyer

Continuing in the mix of an emotional and pragmatic tone in the same interview, Venkatesh Iyer also praised KKR's retention choices for being well-balanced. He said:

"KKR has had a very good retention. I think they have covered easily 14-16 overs and with the bat, they have almost covered five positions. So, they had a great retention but I would have loved to be on that list. KKR have given me a big breakthrough and I have given everything for KKR..."

The IPL 2025 auction is reportedly slated to be held in the last week of November.

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Edited by Sudeshna Banerjee
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