Venkatesh Iyer of Kolkata Knight Riders during match 68 of the Tata Indian Premier League between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Lucknow Super Giants held at the Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata, on the 20th May 2023. (Photo by: Ron Gaunt / SPORTZPICS for IPL)
Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Dwayne Bravo said that the team went after Venkatesh Iyer to keep the core intact of the IPL winning side.
“Getting Venky (Venkatesh Iyer) was one of the main priorities for us, as you could see, we went all out for him. It’s good that we have 90 per cent of the players from the championship-winning team. That in itself is a positive sign,” Bravo said.
“It’s important to keep your core because when you have to build from scratch, it becomes complicated to make combinations and all. We started planning while I was in Trinidad. We had come with a proper plan, the players we wanted to target,” the 4-time IPL champion with Chennai Super Kings added.
Iyer became the 3rd most expensive signing in this year’s IPL auction at Rs 23.75 crore just behind his former skipper Shreyas Iyer who went to Punjab Kings for Rs 26.75 crore and Rishabh Pant who was bought by the Lucknow Super Giants for a league record of Rs 27 crore.
“Thank you, KKR, for trusting me and showing so much belief in me. I’m extremely delighted to be part of Kolkata Knight Riders again. To be honest, I’m at a loss for words, but I’m elated to be part of the KKR team once again,” the 29-year-old had said right after he returned to the Knights on Sunday.
“The KKR coach (Chandrakant Pandit) was also my coach in Madhya Pradesh. We were discussing how I felt nervous about coming back to KKR. But again, it’s a message of the franchise’s focus on winning championships and player development and how much they value its players. I’m thrilled to play for KKR again and happy they’ve shown so much confidence in me,” he had added.
