Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer of Knight Riders during the IPL 2025 match vs Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata. (Sportzpics)Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane said that vice captain Venkatesh Iyer has the complete support of the franchise as the batter looks to navigate one of the more difficult phases of his career. The spotlight has been firmly on Iyer even since KKR forked out Rs 23.75 crore in the IPL auction to bring him back to the setup after initially releasing him.
However, he hasn’t had the best season thus far, with scores of 60 and 45 in consecutive games being the only performances of note. In the last 4 matches, he has scored just 28 runs but Rahane said that his deputy will find form soon.
“Every player goes through that phase where he is trying his best but the performance is not coming. He is a quality player. We all know that he has done well for the franchisee in the past, (he has) won the matches for the team as well. It’s important from management (and) leadership group point of view (that) we back him. He has been working really hard. People generally only see about the results and the outcome. But the hard work which all the players are doing, that is really important,” Rahane said on Star Sports Press Room.
“From my point of view, we are completely backing Venkatesh Iyer. He is just one innings away. You can probably see one good innings from him in next four games,” he added.
The captain also admitted to KKR’s opening woes with Quintin de kock failing to replicate Phil salt’s impact on top with Sunil Narine.
“Sunil Narine has done well in the past for us. This year, we started with Quinny (Quinton de Kock). Quinny played a very good knock. But again, he couldn’t capitalise on that. He is trying hard. He is trying his best. But now, we have to look at the positives rather than what is not working for us,” he said.
“Obviously, the errors (have) happened and that can happen in this format. You want your players to play with freedom, play sometimes with high-risk cricket, so we are bound to make errors.” “I don’t like to pinpoint on any players or any particular number. Everyone has to contribute…It’s not happening, yes. I accept that,” he said.
Kolkata need to win all four of their remaining matches to have a chance of qualifying to the playoffs with the first two games scheduled at home against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings on May 4
and 7 respectively.
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