Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer found himself on the list of top buys in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. As Venkatesh went for a hefty sum of Rs 23.75 crore after an intense bidding war with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the stunning development at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia stunned many. As KKR got the left-handed batter back in the squad, they were relieved. Later, KKR CEO Venky Mysore revealed that Venkatesh gave them an ultimatum before the mega auction.
"They've proven on the field what they can do. You saw in a championship year, and one year we went to the final as well, in 2021. He (Venkatesh) was highly instrumental and terrific guy in the team. He had clearly given us an ultimatum that, 'If you don't pick me, I will be very sad'. So we didn't want him to be sad, and we're also very happy," Mysore told ESPNCricinfo.
As Iyer became the third-most expensive player in IPL history, the big price tags did not surprise Mysore. However, he is not happy with the new Right to Match (RTM) rule.
"Not really, to be honest. Players put in their base prices only, we're the ones who are raising the paddle. It's always a function of what the availability of the purse is and in that situation and timing what not. I still maintain that the RTM rule should have been the old rule," he said.
Steal deals for KKR
Venkatesh emphasised on the need to retain the core group of players. He feels that they got the overseas players -- Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje -- for a steal deal.
"For us it was about trying to keep our core. We've kept six players and brought 2-3 players back from last year. that was always the kind of thinking and as far as he (Venkatesh) is concerned we definitely did't want to find ourselves in a situation where we may not be able to bing him back," Mysore said.
"But it always balances itself. When you look at Quinton de Kock (INR 3.60 crore) and Nortje (INR 6.50 crore) that we've picked, it balances off in many ways. On an overall basis, it all works out," he added.
No Shreyas in KKR's core
On the other hand, KKR gave up on their IPL 2024-winning captain Shreyas Iyer when the bid went past Rs 10 crore. Eventually, he went to Punjab Kings (PBKS) for Rs 26.75 crore.
