On the field or off it, in cricket or academics, India's new allrounder is an original
NEW DELHI: Venkatesh Iyer is from Indore and a staunch Rajinikanth fan. The mega filmstar features in his display photo. And things are happening in his life as fast and magically as they do in Rajinikanth's movies. After having found himself in the limelight in the second half of the IPL with KKR, Iyer has now been called up to join the Indian team for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.
Venkatesh's selection comes at a time when Indian cricket's patience is being tested with its big seam-bowling allrounder hope Hardik Pandya.
Can Iyer be Pandya's backup? "I not looking to fill anyone's shoes," is Iyer's curt response. "My target is to be the allrounder for the side and contribute in all three departments and be flexible as a cricketer."
Iyer is 26, a left-handed opening batter and right-arm medium pacer. He comes across as cricketer who can it do it all. But he can do a lot of things well beyond cricket too.
The decision to make cricket a fulltime career was taken as late as Dec 2018. Venkatesh was doing well in academics too. He believed he could have a real shot at getting into an IIT or IIM if his time wasn't divided between cricket and academics.
Even as he rose rapidly through the ranks and started leading the Madhya Pradesh U-23 team, he decided to give up his ambitions of becoming a chartered accountant and started pursuing an MBA. He had already represented his state in the shorter formats in 2015.
"When I made my first-class debut, that was the moment when I believed I could actually play across all three formats. After the first-class debut I was confident that even if I let go of academics, I'll be able to achieve something or the other in cricket," Venkatesh told TOI on Wednesday as he headed home after playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in Delhi.
His first-class debut also happened at a time when he landed a job with accounting firm Deloitte. His speech oozes confidence. A 10-minute chat with him is enough to understand he is in absolute control of what he wants to do with his life. Academics was never secondary for him. "It helps in understanding the game better," he said.
But juggling academics and cricket with same passion would always have been a challenge. "I think if I decide to pursue something else in future, I'll be able to manage it as well. Time management was very important. I am grateful to the people who gave me the leverage to play cricket. It was not very tough for me to manage both academics and cricket. I have been doing it for a long time," he adds.
As you talk to him about how life has taken a dramatic turn, he interrupts: "Not all of a sudden. I have been working quite hard. It's been a long time. Yeah, after the IPL things have circulated very quickly. I am not expecting too much. I am taking things as they come. I am hopeful that things will be better."
Indore is not the power centre in Indian cricket. But Venkatesh reminds you it has been a hub of cricket in India's history. That his MP teammate Avesh Khan too has earned a maiden international call-up fills him with pride. "Even if I was not selected, I would have been very happy for Avesh. He has been putting in all the hard work, doing so well for the state. We look to contribute for the country together," Venkatesh says.
Venkatesh's journey has been a riveting one. His path and approach may have been different to his contemporaries, but he insists the grind has been no different to any cricketer in the country. "I am happy that after all the hard work that I put in, I am starting to get the results."
