‘Someone is not going to work double harder…’: Ajinkya Rahane breaks silence on Venkatesh Iyer’s form in IPL 2025

KKR lost their final league-stage match to SRH.

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders ended their IPL 2025 campaign on a disappointing note, as the Ajinkya Rahane-led side suffered a 110-run defeat against Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.

KKR batter struggle for form

KKR were considered strong contenders for the IPL 2025 title, but several players like Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Harshit Rana struggled to find form with the bat.

Venkatesh Iyer disappoints in IPL 2025

The biggest disappointment was Venkatesh Iyer who failed to perform well in the 18th edition of the IPL. He was purchased for Rs 23.75 crore in the mega auction by KKR.

Venkatesh Iyer scored just 142 runs in IPL 2025.

Venkatesh Iyer manged to score only 142 runs in 11 matches at an average of  of 20.29 and a strike rate of 139.22. He also missed few games later due to injury

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane on Iyer

“What I can say is, you know, if a player gets 20 plus crore or if a player gets 1 or 2 crore or 3 or 4 crore, your attitude doesn’t change on the field. That’s what matters. As a player, you only focus on the controllable things. And I felt Venkatesh Iyer was actually focusing on the controllable things. Someone’s not going to work doubly harder if he’s getting 20 plus crore or someone’s not going to work less harder when he’s getting 1, 2, 3 crore, whatever it is. Rahane said after their IPL clash agaisnt Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Ajinkya Rahane praised Venkatesh Iyer

Ajinkya Rahane praised Venkatesh Iyer for his fantastic attitude and said, “He was practising hard, doing, trying his best, even during the games, whichever matches he played before getting injured. I thought he did really well. It’s just that for us as a team, 3-4 guys were out of form. That was the only reason I thought we struggled this year. But your attitude doesn’t change For us cricketers, it’s always about following what are the things which we have in our hands and the attitude. I thought his attitude was fantastic. He was always looking to contribute to the team on and off the field.”

KKR IPL 2025 campaign

Kolkata Knight Riders began their IPL 2025 campaign on a disappointing note, with little improvement throughout the season, leading to their elimination from the playoffs. They finished the tournament in 8th place.