Venkatesh Iyer made a strong start to his IPL career coming in as a surprising talent in IPL 2021. He was benched for the entire first leg and then came in at UAE, opened the batting, and was KKR’s central figure as they turned a poor series around. He turned out to be an important multi-utility player, batting aggressively at the top and bowling the occasional overs to help move the game forward, giving his captain options.

His incredible season led to him being selected for the Indian team. With the Indian team though, Venkatesh Iyer batted in the middle-order, being groomed as a finisher. His wonderful form prompted KKR to retain him, given the skillset he offers. Eight games into the second season though, Venkatesh Iyer is struggling to find touch. He has an average of 18 and a strike-rate of 102. After six games opening the batting, Venkatesh Iyer dropped down to the middle-order.

Two games in the middle order, the situation hasn’t changed much for Venkatesh Iyer. IPL is not new to seeing players come in with brilliant performances once only to disappear later. There was Paul Valthaty who had a wonderful 2011 only to struggle and later go completely of the radar.

Going by how Venkatesh Iyer has been this season, he could be having the same issue. After a strong season last year, Venkatesh Iyer is struggling to find runs. Teams may have found him out and are more prepared to face his aggressive style of batting. His ability against the short-ball was susceptible, but last season teams didn’t have too much time to work him out, and now with time on their side, it looks like other bowlers have found chinks in his armour.

Despite his struggle, Venkatesh Iyer is valuable player. He can bat anywhere from number one to six, bowl a few overs at decent pace in the 120s range, and has also picked up some key wickets in his brief IPL career.

This season though, he has been stuck. Playing with KKR, the batters are normally given a lot of clarity in their roles. As Brendon McCullum emphasizes on aggression, the batters are given the license to go out and slog from the word go. While Iyer has been trying to do that, he has looked stuck, and may be better off trying to take a few deliveries to himself, rotate strike and find his rhythm. A good innings is all that may be needed for him to turn his form back, and with six odd games to go, he may find some runs soon.

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Another concern for Venkatesh Iyer though could be the change in roles. He opened for KKR, then went into the middle-order for India, and that may have led to some confusion in his style of play. Given the role of a finisher, he may be finding it tough to understand how to approach the game. Unlike last season though, he has some wonderful batters around him with Shreyas Iyer doing well and Andre Russell in strong form.

There has been questions regarding his retention, but the utility he brings makes sense as to why KKR were tempted to retain him. He is still a valuable player and has turned a season around for KKR on his own, making him a very valuable player.

With Hardik Pandya back in form though, Venkatesh Iyer has some more pressure on him with regards to Indian selection. His form makes may make it tough for him to retain his place in the Indian side after being their finisher for the last few months, but will need some runs to continue keeping his place in the Indian team.