With the Indian Premier League season right around the corner, speculations have been rife about who will lead the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders after they let go of their title-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer. One name that has been brought up frequently is allrounder Venkatesh Iyer, who was not retained by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 auctions, but was bought back by them for a whopping Rs 23.75 crore.
Venkatesh when asked about if he would want to lead the franchise gave his answer in affirmative in an interaction with ESPNcricinfo. “Definitely, I’m ready. Again, I’ve always said this: captaincy is just a tag. I believe in leadership. That is a bigger role to play, being a leader, There’s no ambiguity surrounding this. I’ll definitely do it, if it comes my way. There is no reason not to do it,” Iyer said.
“You don’t necessarily need the tag of a captain to be a leader in your dressing room. You need to set examples. You need to be a good role model, both on and off the field, which I am doing right now in Madhya Pradesh. I’m not the captain of the MP team, but my opinions are respected and I really love to be in an atmosphere where every individual — new or experienced, Rs 20 lakh, Rs 20 crore, whatever — you just need to have the freedom to voice your opinion. You just need to have the freedom to give opinions and give suggestions and them to be taken in the right spirit,” he added.
Iyer had joined the Kolkata franchise in 2021 and has scored 1,326 runs in 51 IPL matches for them. He was also an integral part of the squad which won KKR their 3rd IPL title in 2024.
The defending champions will face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the opening match of the IPL 2025, scheduled to take place in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on March 22.
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