RCB chased mismanaged KKR star hard; blames Kolkata for his disastrous IPL return: 'If he came and played for us…'

Hindustan Times

a day ago

There was certainly an increase in expectation from India all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, when his auction value soared to INR 23.75 crore on the opening day of the mega event in Riyadh last November, an increment of 1087.5 per cent from his base price of INR 2 crore. It further peaked with Kolkata Knight Riders announcing him the vice-captain. Alas, it met the same brutal fate. Succumbed under the pressure, he managed just 142 runs in 11 innings, resulting in a disastrous season. However, Andy Flower, under whom the Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifted their maiden IPL title this year, claimed Iyer would have performed better had he been in RCB.
The last bid price for Iyer, before KKR roped him in, was INR 23.50 crore, which came from RCB. It was among the biggest the franchise ever bid for a player at an auction, thus showing their desperation to acquire the India batter. Although the capital was later used to acquire two match winners who played an instrumental role in their title triumph, Flower, speaking to the media, recalled RCB's plans for Iyer as he subtly blamed Kolkata for mishandling him.
"We really rated Venky; that's why we went hard for him. We valued having a strong Indian core for our team. If he came and played for us, he would have had a really great season," he said.
Bengaluru had used the exactly same amount to rope in Josh Hazlewood for INR 12.50 crore and Phil Salt for INR 11.50 crore, before strengthen their unit with two other first XI certainties - Jitesh Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. And all four of them helped RCB claim their maiden IPL title in 18 years.
Speaking to the broadcasters, veteran India batter Abhinav Mukund believed it was a lucky escape for the RCB.
"In hindsight, they must be thinking, thank God we didn't go all the way from Venkatesh Iyer. Because their last losing bid was Venkatesh Iyer. And the next three buys were Josh Hazlewood, Jitesh Sharma and I think Phil Salt. Those were the next three buys. And they saved so much in the bank for day two when Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in. So, it was a very clear plan that they wanted to buy all of these players," he said.