Venkatesh Iyer

Venkatesh Rajasekaran Iyer, popularly known as Venkatesh Iyer is an Indian Cricketer born on 25th December 1994 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. He is an ambidextrous all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm medium pace.

Venkatesh Iyer Along the Years

Venkatesh Iyer Records

• The second player to score a century for KKR

Career

Hailing from Indore, Venkatesh Iyer stunned the cricket fans with a 198-run knock against the Punjab cricket team in the 2020/21 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He opened the innings for his team and scored 198 runs off 146 deliveries to guide Madhya Pradesh to 402/3 in 50 overs. He later took 2/24 with the ball. He also scored 87* against Goa and 88* vs. Saurashtra in the 2020/21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

In IPL Venkatesh Iyer became one of the major players for KKR in a couple of years. He has scored the second century for KKR after a long wait of 15 years. No other player has ever done this after Brandon Macculum in 2008 for KKR.

He got the chance to make his international debut in the same year he debuted in the IPL and the very next year he appeared in the ODI setup also.

Domestic Career

Venkatesh Iyer played at the U-16 level for his state before receiving a place in the Madhya Pradesh senior team. He received his maiden domestic cap at the senior level in a T20 match against Railways on March 25, 2015. Venkatesh returned with figures of 1/21 on T20 debut.

Later that year, Iyer gained a place in the Madhya Pradesh senior team’s List-A squad. He received his maiden List-A cap against Saurashtra at Rajkot on December 11, 2015. Venkatesh bowled only one over in that game, where he conceded eight runs. He got an opportunity to bat at number three but could only score 16 runs.

After three years, Venkatesh Iyer made his first-class debut. He played against Hyderabad on December 6, 2018, picking up one wicket. Since the Madhya Pradesh batsmen dominated the proceedings in the first innings and the team declared at 562/4, Venkatesh did not get a chance to bat. His team won the game by an innings and 253 runs.

Speaking of his numbers in first-class cricket, Venkatesh has played 20 matches, scoring 1132 runs at an average of 34.73. His wicket tally is at 15 wickets, with his best figures in an innings being 3/28.

Venkatesh Iyer has played 43 List-A matches for Madhya Pradesh, taking 23 wickets and aggregating 1458. Meanwhile, in T20 cricket, his batting aggregate is 2523 runs at a strike rate of 136.57. He has 42 T20 wickets to his name and his economy rate in this format is 7.55.

IPL Career

Venkatesh Iyer was included in their team by KKR in the 2021 auction at a base price of Rs 20 lakh and in the same year he got a chance to make his IPL debut for KKR. Venkatesh made his debut in the IPL on 20 September 2021 in the match played against RCB, where he scored an unbeaten 41 runs at just 27 deliveries.

In that season, Venkatesh played 10 matches and scored 370 runs at an excellent average of 41.11 and a decent strike rate of 128.47 and also took three wickets.

The 2023 IPL proved to be the best for Venkatesh where he scored 404 runs in 14 matches at 28.86 and a strike rate of 145.85, including a century, which is his highest score so far in the IPL. The century scored by him was the second century scored in the history of KKR. In 2023, he did not get a chance to bowl in a single match.

International Career

Before making his international debut, Venkatesh was included as an Indian net bowler in the 2021 T20 World Cup. In November of the same year, Venkatesh was not only included in the team for the T20I series against New Zealand but also got a chance to make his debut.

Venkatesh played his first T20I against New Zealand on 17 November 2021.

Being a fast bowling all-rounder, Venkatesh got the opportunity to make his IPL and T20I International debut in the same span of a year.

Venkatesh made his debut in the ODI format on 19 January 2022 against South Africa at Paarl.

Venkatesh Iyer ODI Career

Venkatesh played his first ODI on 19 January 2022 where he scored only 2 runs and did not bowl a single ball. The next match of the same series played two days later at the same ground, proved to be Venkatesh's last ODI. In that game, he was out after scoring just 22 runs and failed to take a single wicket despite bowling five overs.

In two games that he played in his career, he has scored 24 runs and dismissed no one.

Venkatesh Iyer T20I Career

Venkatesh Iyer played his first T20 match on 17 November 2021 against New Zealand at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. In that match, Iyer scored four runs in two balls, and while bowling, he had also taken one wicket for 12 runs in three overs.

In 2021, Venkatesh Iyer scored 36 runs in three matches, in which his highest score was 20 runs, and he also took one wicket.

In 2022, Venkatesh Iyer produced some spectacular innings, one of which included a score of 35 off just 19 balls against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens. The inning played at 184.21 is the highest score in his T20I career.

While bowling that year, Venkatesh took 4 wickets, out of which his best performance was against West Indies where he took 2 wickets for 23 runs in 2.1 overs.

Venkatesh Iyer played his last T20 match against Sri Lanka on 27 February 2022 in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association where he scored only five runs in four balls and did not even get a chance to bowl.

Venkatesh Iyer Family Background

Venkatesh Iyer was born on 25 December 1994 in Madhya Pradesh to Rajkaran Iyer and Usha Iyer. Venkatesh Iyer's father Rajkaran Iyer works as a clerk in a corporate office while his mother Usha Iyer is the chief nurse at Apollo Hospital.

Venkatesh Iyer also has an elder sister named Priya Lakshanana Rao.

Venkatesh got engaged to Shruti Raghunathan in November 2023, the information of which he informed all his fans and loved ones through his Instagram post.