"If a player gets 20+ crore...": Ajinkya Rahane’s explosive statement on Venkatesh Iyer’s disastrous IPL 2025

Ajinkya Rahane-led Kolkata Knight Riders' dismal campaign in IPL 2025 came to an end on Sunday (May 25) with a heavy defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Not much went right for the defending champions during the match, and it pretty much reflected their performance in the entire competition. SRH completely outplayed KKR to win the game by a huge margin of 110 runs and end their own campaign on a winning note.

Batting first, the Hyderabad-based outfit posted a daunting total of 278/3 in 20 overs thanks to an unbeaten century from Heinrich Klaasen and a fifty from Travis Head. With the ball, SRH never allowed KKR to get the momentum and eventually bowled them out for just 168 runs.

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The defeat means KKR finished the campaign at the 8th spot on the points table. They managed to win only 5 games. One of the main reasons behind the team's poor performance this year was the failure of some of their big names. One such player is Venkatesh Iyer. The southpaw struggled with his form throughout the season.

Expectations were sky high from him after KKR spent a whopping amount of INR 23.75 crore to re-sign him in the mega auction. However, Venkatesh Iyer failed to justify his huge price tag. The KKR vice-captain managed to score only 142 runs in 11 matches at an average of 20.29 and a strike rate of 139.22.

Ajinkya Rahane defends Venkatesh Iyer:

According to reports, KKR are likely to part ways with Venkatesh Iyer ahead of next season owing to his underwhelming performance this year. While only time will tell how things unfold, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane has thrown his support behind his under-pressure teammate Venkatesh Iyer.

Speaking at the end of the match against SRH, Ajinkya Rahane also dismissed suggestions that the huge price tag and the expectations affected Venkatesh Iyer in IPL 2025. He stated that the batter was training hard and also lauded his attitude.

"What I can say is, you know, if a player gets 20 plus crore or if a player gets 1 or 2 crore or 3 or 4 crore, your attitude doesn't change on the field. That's what matters. As a player, you only focus on the controllable things. And I felt Venkatesh Iyer was actually focusing on the controllable things," Ajinkya Rahane told reporters.

"He was practising hard, doing, trying his best, even during the games, whichever matches he played before getting injured. I thought he did really well. It's just that for us as a team, 3-4 guys were out of form. That was the only reason I thought we struggled this year. But your attitude doesn't change.

"Someone's not going to work doubly harder if he's getting 20 plus crore or someone's not going to work less harder when he's getting 1, 2, 3 crore, whatever it is.

"For us cricketers, it's always about following what are the things which we have in our hands and the attitude. I thought his attitude was fantastic. He was always looking to contribute to the team on and off the field," he added.

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