IPL 2025 auction: KKR buys Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping amount of Rs 23.75 crore

The Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday bought Venkatesh Iyer for Rs 23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 Auction at Jeddah, making him the third most expensive buy of the day. Both KKR and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were locked in a bidding war for Iyer. After the price crossed the Rs 23.5 crore mark, RCB backed out.

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The left-handed has been one of KKR's most consistent performers in recent years, providing valuable flexibility in the batting order and the ability to bowl whenever the team needs him. He has scored 1,326 runs in 50 IPL matches.


Ahead of the auction, KKR had retained six players and exhausted their Right-to-Match (RTM) options. As a result, they had to spend big to bring Iyer back, who made his IPL debut with the franchise in 2021.

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The 29-year-old Iyer made an impressive start to his IPL career in 2021, playing 10 matches and scoring over 350 runs as Kolkata finished as runners-up to Chennai Super Kings. In 51 matches across four seasons, Iyer has accumulated 1,326 runs at a strike rate of 137.13, along with three wickets.

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In 2023, he became only the second KKR batter, after Brendon McCullum, to score an IPL century. Iyer played a key role in KKR’s IPL 2024 final victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad, scoring an unbeaten 52 to guide his team to a comfortable 114-run chase in Chennai.