Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat the Gujarat Titans in the final of the IPL 2026 and won the trophy for the second consecutive year. While they played well throughout, Venkatesh Iyer had to face criticism after being bought by RCB for Rs 7 crore ahead of the 2026 season. However, when an opportunity arrived, he used it well.
Speaking to NDTV’s Consulting Editor Boria Majumdar in an exclusive interview, Venkatesh Iyer said, “To say that it did not impact me would be wrong. It does impact everyone. But yeah, to react to it is something that I would never do, because I’ve maintained it time and time again: this is my life, my career, and I’m completely accountable for it and I’m taking care of it. If I’ve done bad, I don’t need people to tell me that I’ve done bad. I know it. I understand cricket enough.”
“But yeah, abuse and all, it’s going to be there. You know it. You know, if you do well, people will talk. If you don’t do well, people will talk. The only thing that you can do is control your efforts, control your attitude. You know, more than efforts, control your attitude. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. And yeah, I’m very lucky that I was in an environment that suited my attitude and my, you know, approach towards the game. So I was really happy, you know, never felt like I’m away from the setup. Never felt like I don’t belong here or anything like that. I completely felt at home and that’s what I think kept me going,” he again said.
READ HERE: Shubman Gill Breaks Silence On ODI Futures Of Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli
For Venkatesh Iyer, it’s the first 10 balls of the innings that actually define what a player is going to do. Against the Punjab Kings, he got the support of Virat Kohli from the other end at the start.
“It’s actually about fighting the first 10 balls. I think it’s not just me, you know, the legends of the game also. It’s that the backhand is actually the first few balls. And so if you’re playing regularly, those first few balls become lesser and lesser. But if you’re not playing, if you are just walking into the ranks and, you know, all these things, the first few balls are actually where you kind of are searching for who you are. You’re getting into the groove,” he added.
“Fortunately for me, I was batting alongside Virat in that game and the platform was set. So I was able to, you know, not chew up a few balls, but I was able to take my time. And once, as you said, it starts hitting the middle of the bat, you kind of zone out. You kind of forget what all is happening, what has happened or, you know, you forget everything and you just focus on how you want to hit the ball. And at the end of the day, that is cricket, right? How you’re hitting the ball, how you’re reacting to situations. And as you said, first few balls after that completely felt like unknown territory for me,” Venkatesh Iyer concluded.
