India’s 16-man squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand was announced on Tuesday evening as a string of newcomers are inducted into captain Rohit Sharma’s team. As expected, former captain of the T20I squad Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are both rested for the T20I series while there were some notable additions to the squad.
Four players will be wearing the team’s colours for the first time and one of those additions is Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) star, Venkatesh Iyer. He alongside fellow Indian Premier League (IPL) stars Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan are also a part of the latest squad. The Indore-born all-rounder while speaking to Sports Tak expressed his emotions after the selection.
“It is a dream come true for me, I always dreamt of representing the nation. The journey wasn’t easy as I had a tough path to negotiate. Firstly, to convince my parents to leave my studies in between wasn’t an easy thing. I left my MBA and CA studies in between to pursue my dream. Initially, before getting selected for the Ranji side my focus was more on studies. But once I was in, I gave my best shot for the team, “Iyer stated while speaking to Sports Tak.
He further added an interesting side of the story as fellow debutant Avesh Khan came up with the news while knocking on the door, “ I was having my dinner in the room with fellow teammates, part of the Madhya Pradesh Ranji team’s bio bubble. I was dejected after the team’s loss against Kerala in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) when Avesh came knocking on the door with the news. I was over the moon once I was in the squad.”
While 26-year-old was in superb form for the IPL franchise, he also shared his experience of sharing time with some of the greats of the game. He had a brief chat with former India captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and pointed out that he was the main reason why he shifted to become a left-handed batter after initially starting as a right-handed batter. On the other hand, his KKR coach Brendon McCullum had compared him to Australian great Adam Gilchrist. However, the only regret he will have is not playing under the captaincy of Virat Kohli who is rested for the T20I series.
Finally asked about his long term goals, the KKR star was determined to give his best and roll the sleeves for the nation whenever required. He probably would love to be part of the team in the 2022 T20 World Cup down under, but that for now remains a step too long. Venkatesh is already his teams’ highest run-scorer in the SMAT with 155 runs in 5 matches.
He also managed to score 370 runs along with three wickets in 10 IPL matches for the Kolkata based franchise in the second phase of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
