Kolkata Knight Riders hero of the IPL 2024 final, Venkatesh Iyer, made a brutal and cryptic criticism of RCB and their former captain Virat Kohli.
Venkatesh Iyer, who scored a sensational half-century last Sunday to clinch the third IPL title for Kolkata, spoke fearlessly in his latest interview. As brave as he was during the finale and throughout the entire season. Iyer made a big difference with bat in hand for KKR and finally felt what it’s like to be the champion of the richest T20 league.
In 2021, Venkatesh Iyer was one step away from becoming the IPL champion when the Chennai Super Kings defeated them in the final. But this year, with Gautam Gambhir backing him and the other players, the Knight Riders were simply a different beast. They had everything it took to become a championship team, but Iyer was the main differentiator.
What did Venkatesh Iyer say about Virat Kohli and RCB?
While speaking to RevSportz in an exclusive interview after the IPL final, Venkatesh Iyer was very candid while talking about Kolkata’s title-winning season. The first question Iyer was asked was about the takeaways, learnings and experience of sharing the dressing room with Gautam Gambhir, who arrived this season as a mentor.
The answer Venkatesh Iyer gave was a true testament to what Gautam Gambhir did with his mindset. The left-handed batsman began by highlighting Gambhir’s most important virtue – that cricket is a team game and therefore everyone should be willing to help each other.
Venkatesh Iyer clearly stated that people often talk about individual milestones even though the game is a proper team sport. He added that someone’s 600-run season means nothing if they don’t end up becoming a championship team. Ramandeep Singh’s 95-run season was much more crucial and much more valuable because it came in pursuit of a winning cause.
It was a cryptic criticism of Virat Kohli, who scored more than 600 runs, 741 runs to be precise, but they ended up being eliminated from the playoffs.
“There was always talk about the team. That it is not an individual sport, but it was always about the team. People from outside always talk about individual scores. But let’s take the 95 runs scored by Ramandeep Singh. They are more valuable. For us at KKR , it could be 600 runs scored by someone else,” Iyer said via RevSportz.
Venkatesh Iyer says Gambhir always emphasizes collectives and not individuals
Venkatesh Iyer then said that Gautam Gambhir always reminded the KKR players of the importance of collective effort. Iyer also revealed how Gambhir used to welcome him whenever he wanted to know how he could contribute to the team. The former Indian world champion used to greet him with a smile at all times.
“That’s what he kept reminding us. Every time I spoke to him, he would greet me with a smile and tell me how I could make a difference for the team. That’s the moot point for him: it’s always about the collective, and never about no individual,” concluded Venkatesh Iyer.
