Venkatesh Iyer has always been fearless: Madhya Pradesh coach Chandrakant Pandit

Madhya Pradesh coach Chandrakant Pandit has revealed that Venkatesh Iyer has always been fearless in his batting approach.

Iyer has had a dream start to his IPL career as he has impressed while opening the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders.

The lanky batter from Madhya Pradesh had scored an unbeaten knock of 41 runs in the team’s opening match of the second season against Royal Challengers Bangalore, which was his IPL debut. Soon after, he scored a fine knock of 53 runs in his second match against the defending champions Mumbai Indians and helped the team in chasing down the target of 155 runs.

Thus, the left-hander has impressed and has hogged the limelight with his aggressive style of batting. Pandit revealed he promoted Iyer in the 2020 Vijay Hazare trophy. The 26-year old from Indore was able to grab his chance as he smashed 198 off just 146 balls against Punjab in India’s 50-overs domestic tournament in 2021.

“I promoted Venkatesh Iyer to open in 2020 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He used to bat at No.6 before I came. He is playing at that [IPL] level and it is not a surprise. He has been a very important player for Madhya Pradesh. I am very happy that he has started well in the IPL. He has always been confident in domestic cricket and he always believes in his abilities, irrespective of the situation,” Pandit said while talking to Sportskeeda.

Pandit admitted that he wasn’t able to make the most of Iyer’s batting abilities when he was batting at number six for the state team.

“Earlier, when he batted at 6, he didn’t get enough balls to play so I decided to push him to open. At 6, there are a few restrictions also and I felt that his abilities needed to be utilized better. You must always think about how best to utilize such special players. At first, he was reluctant because he had never faced the new ball and there were obviously a few doubts that had crept in. But then we agreed that he needed to bat at the top because of the ability he has,” Pandit elaborated.

Iyer has been successful in hitting the ground running and also took the attack against pacers like Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, which is staggering. Pandit added that the left-hander has been always aggressive and fearless in his approach.

“His approach has always been very fearless. He has never thought about the consequences of his fearless style and if he will get out playing that way. When playing at the highest level, there is a bit of inexperience and it might take a little time to settle down. Venkatesh, though, has been repeating the things that made him successful in domestic cricket,” he added.

Iyer will look to continue the good show for KKR and he has definitely given a boost to the team’s batting in the first two matches of the second leg.