Credits: IPL/X
Kolkata Knight Riders’ star all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer expressed his opinion on being a leader and said that he wants to lead any team he plays for. Iyer, who has been a match-winner for reigning IPL champions, in several matches, was retained by the Purple Brigade for a hefty sum of INR 23.75 Crore. With this, he also became the fourth-most expensive player and the most expensive all-rounder ever in the history of the tournament.
The 29-year-old opened up on the captaincy role and said that he would want to lead any team he plays for. Iyer told The Indian Express, “I’ve always maintained that I want to be a leader in any set-up that I walk into, be it Madhya Pradesh, an IPL team, or even the Indian team. Being a leader, you want to contribute with your ideas, with your suggestions. You don’t really need the captaincy tag for that. So I always want to be a leader in the dressing room. And if captaincy comes my way, it will be an honour to lead such a reputed franchise. Let’s see what’s in store for me.”
Sometimes in order to achieve something great: Venkatesh Iyer on advice he received from Shah Rukh Khan
The Indore-born cricketer also revealed the advice he received from KKR owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. He said, “One very good thing ,Shah Rukh Khan Bhai told me that sometimes in order to achieve something great & we forget, where we are that is also good, we forget to respect where we are currently, that takes away from both you know we end up not going there as well not respecting the I really have that in mind to you know respect where I'm right now.”
Speaking about why wearing the India jersey means to him the most, Iyer said, “When the Indian team won the (T20) World Cup and came back to India, you saw the reception. Who would not want to be a part of that team! Who would not want to don that blue jersey or the Indian Test jersey. There are certain things beyond money and skills. That’s what makes us love the game so much. And that’s called emotion …that’s passion. When we all started playing cricket, no one had the concept of earning from cricket.”
