Indian all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer has opened up about his omission from the Indian squad. He revealed that when he was part of the team he felt that he will play in the World Cup but when he was dropped he was hurt.
Venkatesh Iyer’s rise and fall in international cricket
After a stellar second leg of the IPL 2021, Venkatesh Iyer was drafted into the Indian side to fill in the shoes of injured Hardik Pandya. He donned Indian jersey for 9 T20Is and 2 ODIs before he was dropped and never found himself in the national side again.
He wasn’t given a longer rope after he failed to create the impact that was expected from them. Venkatesh Iyer did a decent job for his side in the T20Is as in 9 games he scored 133 runs at an average and strike rate of 33.25 and 162.2 respectively to go with 5 wickets with the ball as well. In ODIs, he failed to impress in 2 games.
🗣I have batted in the middle order almost throughout my life. I have batted a long time in the middle-order for the MP team. Middle-order is a place where I felt at home but the opening was actually tougher.
– Venkatesh Iyer (via cricketnext)#KKR | #VenkateshIyer— KnightRidersXtra (@KRxtra) November 23, 2022
But since Hardik Pandya’s return to the side, Venkatesh Iyer has been on the sidelines. But he has been performing consistently well in the domestic circuit. He started the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a bang – 62* and 6/20 vs Rajasthan and followed it up with scores of 57, 42 and 28 in the next three games.
He then suffered a freak injury as he twisted his ankle and underwent surgery which ruled him out of the entire domestic circuit.
Venkatesh Iyer expresses his disappointment over missing the World Cup
Following his omission from the Indian side, Iyer spoke about what he felt. Speaking to Cricketnext, he said:
“When I was called into the Indian cricket team, I felt I could play in the World Cup and then I was not there. That really hurt me,”
It remains to be seen if Iyer makes a comeback in the Indian side or not.
Kohli in 2022 T20WC – 98.66 Avg
Most times Averaging 90+ in T20I Series/Tournaments for India
8 times – Virat Kohli*
2 times – KL Rahul
2 times – Suresh Raina
1 time – Hardik Pandya
1 time – Manish Pandey
1 time – Shreyas Iyer
1 time – Deepak Hooda
1 time – Venkatesh Iyer— CricBeat (@Cric_beat) November 18, 2022
