'My Life, My Career': IPL's Rs 23.75 Crore Star Snubs Critics Not On His 'Contact List'

News18

2 days ago

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After an underwhelming IPL season, Venkatesh Iyer critics will continue to have their say and he has learned to focus only on those who have a direct impact on his life.
For Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2025 was a forgettable affair. They started the season as the defending champions and finished eighth in the standings – failing to even qualify for the playoffs. KKR's critics had already sharpening their knives well ahead of the start of the campaign given the franchise had released their title-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer ahead of the mega auction who was then signed by their rivals for a jawdropping amount and he led them to a runners-up finish. Additionally, KKR splurged a whopping Rs 23.75 crore to re-sign Venkatesh Iyer – an allrounder who was part of their roster in IPL 2024.
Iyer's amount was the third-highest of the two-day IPL mega auction after Rishabh Pant and Shreys Iyer. Naturally, he was the center of attention during the season as the astronomical sum that KKR shelled out to ensure he remained within their fold had to be justified.
Like KKR, Iyer too had an underwhelming season. He mustered 142 runs from seven innings and didn't bowl in any of the 11 games he was part of. Every time, he failed with the bat, the price-tag became a talking point.
However, the 30-year-old has no time for the critics of his hefty price-tag and choses to pay attention to only those who have a direct impact on his life.
'People who had these questions are not even on my contact list," Iyer told Sportskeeda. 'So why do I have to even think about what they are thinking? It's my life, my game, my career. And it's my team that has chosen to spend so much on me. So these things don't phase me. See, for a boy who wanted to just play IPL cricket, even ₹20 lakh would sometimes feel like a significant amount. And over the years, this is what I've learnt. Not just me, but all the cricketers have learnt this: there are a lot of eyes on you, but it's important to know what to pay heed to."
'People who have had a direct impact on my life, I am answerable to only them," he adds.
Iyer though doesn't feel that one should just simply ignore the criticism coming there way.
'A lot of people have opinions – good and bad. But I only take opinions from people who directly impact me. And of course, legends were talking in analysis. And not paying heed to them is not correct, but you should understand where they are coming from. It is important to understand the fact that it's me who's battling in that situation. So it is tough to deal with those opinions when things don't go your way," he said.
Iyer, who has 1468 runs from 62 IPL matches including a century and 12 fifties, says the legends of the game who have been criticial of his performances have been nothing but helpful.
'I am sure all these legends must have gone through a similar phase. And they understand as well. When I met these people, they were extremely kind enough to tell me what was going wrong and how to kind of negate all those things. I do take the learnings and not the critics part of it," he said.
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