IPL auction: Venkatesh Iyer takes 70% pay cut; joins RCB from KKR

India all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer experienced a melodramatic plaything successful fortunes astatine the IPL 2026 auction connected Tuesday arsenic Royal Challengers Bengaluru outbid Kolkata Knight Riders successful a fierce contention to unafraid his services.

Iyer, who had commanded a monolithic Rs 23.75 crore astatine past year’s mega auction successful Jeddah, was bought for Rs 7 crore this clip around, amounting to a crisp 71 per cent wage cut.The bidding for the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder began cautiously. For a little moment, determination was genuine suspense successful the auction country arsenic Iyer attracted nary contiguous interest, raising the anticipation of him going unsold. Lucknow Super Giants yet broke the deadlock by raising the paddle, with Gujarat Titans concisely joining the race.

However, some franchises soon withdrew arsenic Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders stepped in, turning the proceedings into a high-profile duel.

KKR, Iyer’s erstwhile franchise, showed beardown intent to bring him back, but RCB held their nervus and yet won the battle, snapping up the all-rounder for Rs 7 crore. The determination adds different versatile enactment to the defending champions’ squad up of the caller season.

Earlier successful the day, Iyer had underlined his worth with a timely sound successful home cricket. Representing Madhya Pradesh successful the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, helium struck a fluent 43-ball 70 against Punjab, reminding franchises of his power-hitting credentials. His outing with the ball, however, was little impressive, arsenic helium conceded 12 runs successful the lone implicit helium bowled.Iyer’s wide IPL grounds remains solid. He has scored 1,468 runs successful 56 innings astatine an mean of 29.12, with a onslaught complaint northbound of 137, including 1 period and 12 half-centuries.

His erstwhile stint with KKR successful IPL 2025 proved disappointing, yielding conscionable 142 runs successful 7 innings contempt the hefty terms tag.Across each T20s, Iyer has amassed 3,179 runs successful 144 matches astatine an mean of 34.18 and a onslaught complaint of 138.63, portion besides contributing 55 wickets. In the ongoing SMAT 2025/26 season, helium has scored 211 runs successful 11 matches, including 2 fifties, underlining his all-round inferior up of the IPL.