"It Makes Me Teary-Eyed": KKR Star Venkatesh Iyer Gets Visibly Emotional After Not Being Retained

Venkatesh Iyer has been a key cog for KKR for four seasons, and expressed his emotion at not being retained by the franchise.

The difficulty of having a mega auction right after winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) title is that a team is forced to bid goodbye to several players of the champion side. Such has been the case for IPL 2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) this time around. Despite managing to retain six of their stalwarts, KKR had to let go the likes of Mitchell Starc, Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer. The latter, who has been with the franchise since 2021, got emotional after not being retained.

"In the case of KKR, it's a complete family. It's not just the 16, 20 or 25 players, but also the management, the staff, the guys behind the scenes. There is so much emotion behind that that it kind of makes me a little teary-eyed that my name is not on the retention list," said a heartfelt Venkatesh Iyer to RevSportz.

"Because there is no video of KKR bidding for me in my first auction, during this auction I would sit like an excited kid to see if KKR put up the paddle for me and if they do, it will mean the world to me," he further said.

Venkatesh has been a key cog for KKR over the previous four IPL seasons, helping them reach the final in 2021 and then lift the cup in 2024. He even hit the winning runs in the 2024 IPL final.

While Venkatesh emphasised the emotion and family feeling at the Knight Riders, he admitted that the franchise has made good retentions.