IPL 2025 Auction: Making sense of KKR's 23.75 crore splurge for Venkatesh Iyer
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are not done making noise in the year 2024. After a dominating title run on the field in May, the franchise took fans and experts' breath away by re-signing Madhya Pradesh batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for a colossal ₹23.75 crores in the IPL 2025 auction on November 24.
Just four seasons and 50 games into his IPL career, Iyer became the fourth-most expensive signing in league history, behind his 2024 KKR teammates Mitchell Starc (24.75) and Shreyas Iyer (26.75), and the highest buy all-time Rishabh Pant (27).
Sure enough, discussions around auction dynamics, retention strategies, and the cons of top players giving their nod of approval to being retained started doing the rounds after the two Iyers (Shreyas and Venkatesh) and Pant all went over ₹23 crores, a figure even the biggest Indian stars retained could not touch.
Yet, was there some method to KKR's madness of plunging for Venkatesh Iyer, or was it a case of demand vs supply playing spoilsport once again in an IPL auction?
Let us try to make sense of the move that stunned the IPL world by breaking down the finer details surrounding the same.
The effects of perfect timing and Demand vs Supply hysteria
It is nearly impossible to analyze the ideal price for any player in an IPL auction just by his numbers, potential, and past performances. If only that mattered, Venkatesh Iyer would likely be labeled a ₹10-12 crore commodity.
Yet, how he ended up with double the value has everything to do with timing and the demand for teams with a large balance against the supply of such a commodity.
For starters, KKR retained six players - four capped and two uncapped and retaining Iyer as a fifth capped player for one of the uncapped players would have cost them a maximum of ₹18 crores if that. Yet, accusing the franchise of a potential foresight would be the ultimate hindsight analysis as no one could have predicted Iyer going for such a monumental price at the auction.
What transpired before his name came to the forefront and what was available after - a classic 'timing meets demand-supply imbalance' helped Iyer land a jackpot.
KKR and RCB were the major contenders in the bidding war for Iyer and both endured key misses earlier in the auction despite boasting a hefty bank balance. The result? Go all-in on one of the last well-accomplished left-handed Indian batters left.
Both teams missed out on Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul earlier in the auction, making them desperate to land a renowned Indian batter of note. A bank balance of almost ₹75 crores for RCB and over ₹50 crores for KKR lured both franchises to potentially go for more than what they had budgeted to land the 29-year-old.
Eventually, the latter won out and extended their well-established core by landing Venkatesh Iyer for a price more than the player in isolation perhaps warranted.
The undefined price value of emotional connect and recency
As much as logic plays a role, most life or cricketing decisions stem from intangible terms like emotions, recency bias, brand, and reputation. While Venkatesh Iyer has yet to cement himself on the last two, his connection with KKR at an emotional level is indisputable.
The 29-year-old played a massive role in the franchise winning their third IPL title earlier this year, scoring back-to-back half-centuries in Qualifier 1 and final. The clutch performances in addition to other impactful knocks in a 370-run season at a strike rate of almost 160 made him hard to ignore for KKR at the auction.
Considering KKR CEO Venky Mysore's central auction theme was around bringing back the core of the 2024 squad, the ultra-aggressive push for Iyer wasn't as shocking once the dust settled.
"For us it was about trying to keep our core. We've kept six players and brought 2-3 players back from last year. that was always the kind of thinking and as far as he (Venkatesh) is concerned we definitely did't want to find ourselves in a situation where we may not be able to bing him back," he said as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.
"You saw in a championship year, and one year we went to the final as well, in 2021. He (Venkatesh) was highly instrumental and terrific guy in the team. He had clearly given us an ultimatum that, 'If you don't pick me, I will be very sad'. So we didn't want him to be sad, and we're also very happy," added Venky Mysore.
It certainly helped Iyer's cause that his two best seasons with the bat in 2021 and 2024 saw KKR finish as runners-up and win the title, thus enhancing his impact.
With the franchise missing out on Shreyas Iyer and Mitchell Starc, Venkatesh Iyer's name possibly added the extra fire to the 'retaining as much of the 2024 core as possible' theme, resulting in the massive splurge.
KKR's value for loyalty came full circle when the rubber needed to meet the road
Now comes the tricky part that may rub a few other franchise and related player fanbases the wrong way. Most players and franchises do extensive lip service to words like 'team' and 'loyalty'.
Yet, how many practice what they preach when the rubber needs to meet the road? KKR did and continues to do so, resulting in them being richly rewarded during the pre-auction retentions.
Yes, the shrewd moves of the South African pair of Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje and Afghanistan wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz for ₹12 crores ensured the surplus possibly utilized for Venkatesh Iyer was balanced out. However, there is a potential bigger picture to this - one perhaps several other franchises can take cues from.
KKR's persistence with the West Indian duo of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell through their thick and thin over the years cannot be understated. Be it the former's issues with his bowling action and the subsequent drop-off in production for a few years or the latter's customary injury setbacks - KKR never flinched or conceded.
Instead, they backed them to the point where Russell in particular stated in a conversation with Star Sports last year:
"Where I was, a few years ago, KKR actually make things happen for me where they send me to get proper treatments on my knees. That’s something special to me to be honest. No other franchise or even my country never really invest that much on me."
The franchise similarly invested in Rinku Singh since acquiring him in 2018 even as he averaged under 12 in each of his first three seasons.
All the goodwill from KKR towards the trio was rightfully answered back when they combined to take pay cuts from what their performances and caliber deserved. Considering the prices some of the much lesser-accomplished players went for during the auction or retentions, a combination of Narine, Russell, and Rinku being retained for ₹50 crores (₹37 crores in actual but rounded off to the maximum of the three highest retentions) - has to be the cumulative steal of the IPL.
Each of the three, especially the IPL 2024 MVP Narine, could have easily demanded over ₹18 crores as a few retained star players from other franchises.
With KKR, it was a classic case of years of investment in the player and the loyalty towards them when they were at their lowest being returned at the right time for building a championship-winning team.
Hence, the more sensible way of looking at Venkatesh Iyer's ₹23.75 crore explosion would be by asking if Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Rinku Singh returning to KKR for a combined value of under ₹73.75 crores (₹60.75 in actual) fits the bill? And the answer might just turn into a unanimous 'yes'.