IPL Auction 2025 In a massive surprise at the IPL Mega Auction, Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer hit a major jackpot as he returned to the Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 23.75 crore on Sunday.

Iyer, who was marked in Set 4 of capped all-rounders, went over 11 times his base price of Rs 2 crore after an intense bidding war between KKR and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

KKR retained six players before the auction, exhausting their Right-to-Match (RTM) options heading into the auction. In turn, KKR had to shell out a fortune to win back the services of Iyer, who made his IPL debut with the franchise in 2021 and was retained for only Rs 8 crore last season.

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Venkatesh Iyer is back with Kolkata Knight Riders ???? ????

Base Price: INR 2 Crore

SOLD For: INR 23.75 Crore#TATAIPLAuction#TATAIPL@venkateshiyer@KKRiderspic.twitter.com/4eDZPt5Pdx

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 24, 2024

The 29-year-old Iyer played 10 games in his debut season, scoring over 350 runs as Kolkata finished runners-up behind Chennai Super Kings. In 51 matches overall across four seasons, Iyer has aggregated 1326 at a 137.13 strike rate and three wickets.

In 2023, Iyer became only the second KKR batter in 15 years after Brendon McCullum to crack an IPL hundred. Iyer shone in KKR’s IPL 2024 final win over SunRisers Hyderabad in Chennai earlier this year, scoring an unbeaten 52 in a comfortable 114-run chase.

Iyer’s tryst with the Indian T20I side was brief in the 2021 and 2022 seasons as the national side scrambled for back-ups in Hardik Pandya’s absence. Iyer played nine T20Is and two ODIs, registering 157 runs and five wickets.

The lanky all-rounder’s recent form has been iffy, with underwhelming red-ball campaigns in the County Championship and the Ranji Trophy. Iyer was dismissed for 36 in Madhya Pradesh’s first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Mizoram in Rajkot on Saturday.