Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has opined that Venkatesh Iyer was a very important factor in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL triumph. Iyer scored a fine cameo of 16-ball 32 against Gujarat Titans in the summit clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Sunday. In fact, Iyer was hit on his knee but played a blistering knock despite the injury.
The left-hander scored a total of 209 runs in six innings in IPL 2026 at an average of 52.25 and a strike rate of 186.60. RCB had acquired Iyer’s services for INR 7 crore in the mini auction.
“I will go towards slightly less celebrated factors. Let’s start with Venkatesh Iyer. He wasn’t the biggest factor, but a very important factor. When he went to RCB, there was a question as to why he was going. They said he will be useful when required, but is a backup option for now, which was an interesting call to make,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra highlighted that Iyer didn’t have the form on his side for Madhya Pradesh in the domestic circuit ahead of the IPL.
“One was Devdutt Padikkal, who was coming with incredible domestic form, and one was Venkatesh Iyer, who didn’t have domestic form at all. We saw him playing even at No. 6 to No. 8 for MP, and it seemed like he was coming absolutely without form, but the team invested in him,” he added.
The former Delhi cricketer said Rajat Patidar’s injury was a blessing in disguise for RCB as it forced them to add Venkatesh Iyer to their playing 12.
“It actually helped when Rajat Patidar got injured. It was an important match against Punjab, and Venkatesh came in the middle overs, scored runs in Dharamsala, and became the Player of the Match. Suddenly, you realized that you were playing Jacob Bethell, but he wasn’t scoring runs,” the former India opener observed.
“In such a scenario, when Rajat Patidar became available, you asked Venky to go to the top of the order. Then you could play Jacob Duffy and Romario Shepherd. Suddenly, your combination actually changed completely, and you didn’t miss Phil Salt. This is the most incredible thing. Limited runs, but important runs,” he added.
On the other hand, the former KKR batter also hailed Devdutt Padikkal’s consistent contribution to the team’s success. The southpaw scored 464 runs in 15 innings at an average of 33.14 and a strike rate of 168.72.
“Devdutt Padikkal, whenever he batted, he batted with so much freedom that no matter who he was batting with, whether it was Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, or whoever he was having a partnership with, he would move at the rate of knots. He came smashing, and he hits everything technically correctly,” he said.
“He left Virat way behind in partnerships many times. Virat said he was happy to be at the non-striker’s end because Devdutt was batting so well. It wasn’t a 700-run season, but everyone doesn’t have one. If everyone starts having a 700-run season, you won’t get the pace you can run at. Less celebrated, but extremely important contributions,” Chopra observed.
RCB were able to come up with a collective effort throughout their successful campaign.
