A former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star recently spoke about his efforts to regain his place in the Indian team and he seems confident enough to achieve it soon too.

Venkatesh Iyer, who played a clinical role in helping KKR win their third IPL title last season, is aiming to don the tricolor again.

Notably, Iyer made his India debut after playing just 10 IPL matches. He excelled in every task given to him but was sidelined as soon as Hardik Pandya’s return became available. He was planning his comeback, in the midst of a strong run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, when he fell down the stairs of the team hotel and broke his ankle in a freak injury.

ALSO READ: KKR was not Shah Rukh Khan’s first choice; Wanted to buy another IPL team: Lalit Modi

Venkatesh Iyer feels he is ‘really close’ to returning to India

Now, after three years of debuting for India, Iyer is in good shape and is back to scoring runs. In the IPL 2024 season, Iyer looked prolific with the bat, scoring 370 runs at an average of 46.25 and a strike rate of 158.80.

Talking about his ambition to don the Indian jersey again, Venkatesh Iyer told Sportskeeda:

“I think I’m ready. But to be honest, I have to be realistic about it. I haven’t been counting because at some point I need to try harder. I need to capture more wickets, I need to create a bigger impact. But I’m getting there. I am very close to returning. And it is really satisfying to see good competition in the team. What that does is give me a lot of hope.”

For more updates, follow Cricxtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube.