Venkatesh Iyer

India have had a decent depth of players, but finding fast bowling all-rounders has always been their Achilles' heel. With the arrival of Hardik Pandya and Venkatesh Iyer on the scene, the search seems to be over for the cricket-crazy nation.

Venkatesh Iyer is a left-handed batting all-rounder representing India. Born in Indore, Iyer began his professional career when he made his T20 debut for Madhya Pradesh against Saurashtra during the 2014-15 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy season. Later in the year, he represented Madhya Pradesh in the List A format during the 2015-16 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Three years later, in 2018, Iyer made his first-class debut for Madhya Pradesh against Hyderabad in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy.

The Kolkata franchise showed faith in him and acquired his services for the 2021 Indian T20 League season. He had a brilliant debut season and played a key role in the Kolkata journey to the final. After the Indian T20 League season, Iyer received his maiden call-up to the national side for the T20I series against New Zealand. He made his debut and would later go on to make his ODI debut against South Africa in January 2022.

Having been retained by the Kolkata franchise ahead of the 2022 mini-auction, Iyer will represent them in the 2023 Indian T20 League season. Venkatesh Iyer bats in the lower order for India and Madhya Pradesh, while for the Kolkata franchise, he is used at the top of the order. Iyer is an attacking batter, and his height makes him one of the toughest batters to bowl at. He is a decent operator with his medium pace bowling and will only get better with time.