IPL 2026 Trade: 3 teams that could target Venkatesh Iyer if KKR decide to release him ahead of IPL 2026 auction – Sports Tiger

HOME / News / IPL 2026 Trade: 3 teams that could target Venkatesh Iyer if KKR decide to release him ahead of IPL 2026 auction
Dev Tyagi Author
Credit: BCCI/X
A charismatic, easy going, unflustered and determined character – all of this and maybe more – describes the likeable Venkatesh Iyer. Cricket likes a nice man and even more so, when that man is as talented as Venkatesh Iyer who has taken to T20 format like a fish to water. Having been the leadership board’s figurehead where it comes to the Knights from Kolkata, two major directions could possibly follow for the Indore-born. Either, he’ll stay with the KKR franchise and further build on his career that in 2025, didn’t particularly bloom (142 runs, 11 games).
Or, he could go under the hammer after being released by his team so that he can rediscover his groove, albeit with another IPL stable. Which way the Indian Premier League (IPL) pendulum flows, one never knows. But then which three teams could likely to go for Venkatesh Iyer if KKR decide to release him ahead of IPL 2026 auction? Let us find out.
The Lucknow Super Giants could be one among the three teams likely to go for Venkatesh Iyer if KKR decide to release him ahead of IPL 2026 auction. In the recently-concluded IPL season, earlier in 2025, much like teams like Mumbai, Gujarat, and Delhi, the LSG unit didn’t particularly have a marvellous year in the tournament. That was despite having talents like Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, and Rishabh Pant.
But ahead of the forthcoming IPL auctions, someone like Venkatesh Iyer could well go under the hammer and may likely go Lucknow’s way should the team wish to expand its circle of influence in the Indian Premier League. But let us see what happens ahead.
One among the three teams likely to go for Venkatesh Iyer if KKR decide to release him ahead of IPL 2026 auction could well be Mumbai Indians. One of the most successful, durable and formidbale IPL sides has actually cultivated a culture of pure dominance in the fabled format, the Mumbai Indians are, essentially speaking, a team with matchwinners galore.
They already have seasoned names of the game in Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma, but some of their players aren’t perhaps as young as they once were.
The addition of someone like Venkatesh Iyer, 1468 career runs, 12 fifties, and one century, could further elevate the strong standing of the MI team in the tournament in which they are known to excel, the 2025 season notwithstanding.
Why would SRH not be among 3 teams likely to go for Venkatesh Iyer if KKR decide to release him ahead of IPL 2026 auction, one wonders?
What has hurt Hyderabad, of late, is the fact that they don’t have several star powers with the bat even as they have the powerful Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan and others like Travis Head.
After losing notable talents like Markram much earlier than 2025, SRH would want to further build a strong talent pool that goes a long way and can help re-establish the powers of a team that is yet to win another crown than what it got in its former heydays, when known as the Deccan Chargers.
Iyer, with a stable head on his shoulders can help the team, if given a chance.

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