Venkatesh Iyer was bought back by KKR for INR 23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction
Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Shivam Mavi felt that the franchise will soon make Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer their captain once he has learned enough from current captain Ajinkya Rahane.
KKR, who are the defending champions for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, were unable to retain last season’s captain Shreyas Iyer. He was bought by Punjab Kings for a price of INR 26.75 crore. They went with experienced Ajinkya Rahane for the new season and named Venkatesh as his deputy.
In an exclusive chat with Cricxtasy, Mavi felt that Venkatesh will be the future of the franchise but deputising under Rahane will help him gain valuable experience.
“I think Venkatesh hasn’t captained in the IPL yet, so keeping that in mind, they’ve made Rahane bhai the captain so Venkatesh can learn under him. And then maybe they’ll give him the captaincy when Rahane bhai is no longer around,” Mavi said.
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Rahane began the new season with a bang in the opening encounter against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) with a sublime 56 off 31 balls. He added 103 runs from 49 balls with opener Sunil Narine. The 36-year-old recently finished as the highest runscorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Mumbai. He returned with 469 runs from eight matches at a strike rate of 164.
Mavi felt that if Rahane stays with KKR for three or more years, Venkatesh would learn a lot.
“If he (Rahane) stays with the team for the next three years, he’ll learn a lot. Because captaining a state team and an IPL team is completely different. If his learning curve continues well from there, then they can hand over the captaincy. That’s probably what the franchise thought. KKR must have planned it that way,” Mavi said.
KKR’s title defence was off to a humdinger despite Rahane’s superb knock. The rest of the batters failed and were restricted to 174/8 in 20 overs. Riding on Virat Kohli’s 59 not out off 36 balls, RCB galloped to the target with seven wickets and 22 balls to spare.
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