Venkatesh Iyer started at the right time (Photo: PTI)

IPL Auction 2026: Venkatesh Iyer did wonders. The day the auction for IPL 2026 is to be held in Abu Dhabi. His name is going to be auctioned in that auction. That day here in India he created a stir with his bat. Venkatesh Iyer has made his highest score in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 while playing against Punjab on 16th December i.e. the day of IPL auction. The left-handed all-rounder made this blast while opening for his team Madhya Pradesh.

Venkatesh's base price in IPL 2026 auction is Rs 2 crore

Venkatesh Iyer was a part of KKR last season. But before the IPL 2026 auction, KKR franchise had released him. Now Venkatesh Iyer, who has entered the IPL 2026 auction, has kept his base price at Rs 2 crore.

Made my highest score in SMAT 2025

Venkatesh Iyer scored runs at a strike rate of more than 162 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Punjab on 16 December. He scored 70 runs in 43 balls, hitting 8 fours and 2 sixes, which is his highest score in this season of the tournament and his second half-century. Earlier his big score was 55 runs.

Failure of 7 consecutive innings ended on the day of auction.

After that 55-run inning against Bihar, Venkatesh failed to score fifty plus in 7 consecutive innings played in SMAT 2025. But, the big thing is that to end that failure, they chose the day of IPL 2026 auction.

Venkatesh Iyer's IPL record

Talking about Venkatesh Iyer's record so far in IPL, he has played 62 matches for KKR in 6 seasons, in which apart from scoring 1468 runs with 1 century and 12 half-centuries, he has taken 3 wickets. KKR had spent Rs 23 crore on him in the IPL 2025 auction but it did not get the result that way. Now it remains to be seen whether this time too KKR bets on him or some other franchise.