The Indian Premier League (IPL) mini auction for 2026 is scheduled for December 16, and all ten franchises have the same target: to make their squads stronger for the upcoming season. KKR enters the auction with the biggest purse while MI has the smallest one, and teams have to manipulate different ways to come up with the players they want.
Among these teams, the focus will be on the defending champions, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Last season, the team secured its first-ever IPL title, and to repeat the success in the league, the team needs to address a few minor weaknesses, which includes acquiring a reliable batsman at the 3rd position.
The franchise has no choice but to try to snag the very talented KKR releasee, Venkatesh Iyer, and here is what he offers the title defenders.
What Venkatesh Iyer offers
Experience: His participation in the IPL since 2021 makes Venkatesh Iyer an experienced IPL player. RCB has a good mix of old and young players and the latter could help the former even more in the coming season.
Proven league performer: Experience is one thing, but Venkatesh is at the same time also a proven performer, winner of the IPL as well. He is the one who has scored tons of runs and was the major reason KKR reached the final back in 2021
(Venkatesh Iyer in IPL)
Venkatesh Iyer’s IPL journey can be defined by 62 matches played, 1468 runs scored and nearly 138 as his healthy strike rate. The batter from Madhya Pradesh performed well on flat pitches and started his IPL journey on difficult UAE pitches, which means he can adapt to different conditions.
An upgrade over Padikkal: Devdutt Padikkal, the player from Karnataka, has been part of more IPL matches than Venkatesh and has managed to score only 1806 runs in 74 games with a strike rate of 126.29. Venkatesh is an obvious upgrade over Padikkal on paper, and the team will also have a left-handed hitter to replace a left-handed Padikkal hitter.
How RCB can utilize Venkatesh Iyer
Last year RCB’s two openers, Virat Kohli and Phil Salt, were a perfect match as the team beat PBKS to grab the title. Salt is an attacker while Kohli has been a very good player in the IPL over the past three seasons. In case a wicket falls, Venkatesh can be there to carry on with his aggressive batting and the momentum of the team.
Venkatesh’s performances fluctuated last season because of his being forced to play in the 5th position instead of his designated spot, which resulted in poor performances as the 23.75 crore buy could score only 142 runs in 11 matches and getting dropped midway.
If RCB brings him in next season, the problem of his batting position could be solved by allowing him to play the number 3 spot which he likes most, and the Madhya Pradesh batter could do miracles for the IPL champions.
He could bat at 3, and his best friend Rajat Patidar would come at 4. RCB’s batting department could be Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Romario Shepherd, and Krunal Pandya together with Patidar and Iyer.
Final verdict
RCB has only a few loopholes to fix which can be managed through a couple of signings and the winning formula should be to get the ex-KKR player Venkatesh Iyer into the team. He has been a big-game player, has made massive runs throughout the league and will be a great help at number 3, provided he gets the chance to bat there.