Delhi: In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought fast bowler Josh Hazlewood for Rs 12.50 crore, which also proved to be the most successful bowler in the team in the season. Initially the RCB auction strategy was criticized, but the team surprised everyone by winning the IPL title for the first time.
RCB wanted to take Venkatesh Iyer in the team
RCB had given full strength to buy Venkatesh Iyer in the auction and bid up to Rs 23.50 crore, but Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) retained him in his team for 23.75 crores. RCB coach Andy Flower believes that if Venkatesh Iyer were in his team, he would probably have been performing much better. He said, “We underestimate Venkey very high, so we decided to invest so much money for him. We wanted a strong Indian core and also a left hand batsman in the top order.”
𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫🎙: “We really rated venky, that’s why we want hard for him bcoz we valued a strong Indian core to our team. If he came and played for us, he would have a really Great SEARAT SEASON…#RCB #IPL2025 #Playbold pic.twitter.com/wlab3eiyli
– ᴅᴋ (@coach_dk19) June 5, 2025
Venkatesh’s disappointing performance
The season of KKR vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer was very poor. He scored 142 runs in just 7 innings, with his average of 20.29. He hit only one half -century, which came against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Apart from this, he scored 45 runs in 29 balls against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He was batting in the middle order and his strike rate was 139.21. He could not play a single match after the IPL resumed due to a hand injury.
Will KKR Reten to Venkatesh?
Now the question is whether KKR will retain Venkatesh Iyer for the next season? If the team releases them, RCB can once again bid for them.
Who did RCB choose Venkatesh?
When RCB did not get Venkatesh Iyer, he included Devdutt Padikkal in the team. The neighborhoods were unsold in the first round, but RCB bought them for their base price of Rs 2 crore. He scored 247 runs in 10 innings, including two half -centuries. Their strike rate was 150.60 and average 27.44.
Mayank Agarwal replaced Padikkal
Padikal later had to be out of the tournament due to hamstring injury. Mayank Agarwal was replaced in the team for Rs 1 crore. Mayank played 4 matches including qualifier 1 and finals and scored 95 runs. His average was 148.43 and the strike rate was also 148.43.
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