After facing failures in the initial games, KKR star batter Venkatesh Iyer finally got back to his best, blasting 60 off 29 deliveries and powering Kolkata Knight Riders to post a monumental victory target. Iyer was bought by KKR for INR 23.75 crore, making him the third most expensive buy in IPL history. Iyer, who has been a formidable player for KKR in the middle order, was asked about the massive price tag and the expectations that follow it, and his reply was mesmerising. The question was posed to Iyer following his gloomy start with the bat. However, in his reply, Iyer said that he is a player who only looks to contribute to the team’s success. 

"Once IPL starts, it doesn't matter whether you were sold for Rs 20 lakh or 20 crore,” Iyer said during the post-match press conference.

"We have a youngster called Angrish Raghuvanshi, who is doing really well. The money doesn't define how you will play cricket. I know that the question of high payment and expectations will come up a lot, but I am a player who wants to contribute to the team's success. There will be tricky situations when my team will require me to play out a few balls. If I can do that even after not scoring that many runs, I have done the job for my team.”

“It doesn't mean that I'm the highest-paid cricketer, I have to score runs in every match. It's about the impact.”

Iyer scored 6 runs in KKR’s first match against RCB and in the second game he didn’t get to bat after the top order took the side to victory. In the third match he only managed 3 runs. However, he returned strongly in the fourth game, contributing massively to the team’s win over SRH. Coming to the match, KKR recorded an 80-run victory over SRH. Notably, following KKR’s title victory at the IPL last year, KKR had released Iyer, but during the auction they spent a whopping sum to bring him back to the side.