Will Venkatesh Iyer’s release be indicated by that? Aakash Chopra questions why KKR excluded a misfiring batter from the SRH-KKR match.

“They didn’t play Venkatesh Iyer, which was the major news for me in this match. You didn’t get him to bat even though he was on the impact substitute’s list. You played Ramandeep Singh and Rinku Singh, and you got Manish Pandey and Angkrish Raghuvanshi to bat. On his official YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra stated, “You played everyone, but you left Venky out.”

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, May 25, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 110 runs to end their lacklustre Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season.

It’s interesting to note that this season, the Knights have excluded Venkatesh Iyer twice. Before the IPL was halted for a week because of security concerns related to the India-Pakistan war, he was left off of the team that played the Chennai Super Kings on May 7. The match between KKR and RCB on May 17 was called off without a toss after the league resumed. Venkatesh was one of the Impact Subs on Sunday. But the Impact Player, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, was introduced.

Since he wasn’t utilised on Sunday, Aakash Chopra questioned whether the Madhya Pradesh cricket player, who was acquired for an incredible INR 23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction, will be released before the upcoming season.

Is that a sign that Venkatesh Iyer will be available in the upcoming year? After you release ₹23 crore, you could wish to buy him back for cheaper. “I think we have an indicator for next year, but that is a possibility,” he continued.

This season, Venkatesh participated in 11 games for KKR. He only batted seven times, yet he scored 142 runs at a strike rate of 139.22 and an average of 20.29. Throughout the season, the southpaw only managed to score one half-century. Both experts and fans were taken aback by Venkatesh’s lack of ball skills.

In the first innings, Heinrich Klaasen hit a century off of 37 balls, and KKR gave up 278/3. The reigning champs were bowled out for 168 in response. With 12 points from 14 games, KKR fell to No. 8 in the standings.