Kevin Pietersen, the former English cricketer, has praised Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for his outstanding performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pietersen called the tall left-hander a “360 kind of player” after Iyer scored a century against Mumbai Indians (MI), which was the first century by any KKR player in 15 years. Despite scoring a whopping 104 off just 51 balls, Iyer’s heroics went in vain as MI won the match by five wickets with 14 balls to spare.
Appearing as an expert on Star Sports, Pietersen talked about how impressed he was with Iyer’s batting skills, particularly his ability to stand on top of the bounce due to his height and play off the back foot while not getting bogged down by spinners.
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Pietersen recalled his first impression of Iyer while watching him bat during the IPL 2021 in Dubai, stating that he saw the potential in the Indian batter from the very beginning.
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Iyer dedicated his first IPL century against MI to KKR’s head coach Chandrakant Pandit, with whom he has spent three years working. The player-coach duo led Madhya Pradesh to their first-ever Ranji Trophy victory last season. Iyer’s century helped him climb to the top of the Orange Cap leaderboard, having scored 234 runs in five innings with an average of 46.8.
Speaking in a post-match press conference, Iyer expressed his happiness over Pandit’s tactics reaching an international level and that he was glad to have worked with him for three years. Venkatesh Iyer will look to continue his impressive form when KKR faces Delhi Capitals (DC) on April 20. Fans will be eager to see if Iyer can maintain his fantastic run and lead KKR to victory in the upcoming match.