India vs New Zealand T20Is: Venkatesh Iyer reveals the secret of playing for India after selection in the national team

An all-rounder is a rarity in Indian cricket and new entrant to the club Venkatesh Iyer knows very well that he has to focus on both aspects of the game to stay relevant. The 26-year-old from Madhya Pradesh has been included in the squad for the first time for the T20 International home series against New Zealand starting November 17 and he knows that workload management will be an important focus area for him going forward.

“My workload management has been good so far. I am an all-rounder so I have to pay equal attention to both the aspects of the game. This is what I have been doing since my age group state level days. It has not been a big issue till now.

The effort for Iyer is to display multiple skills across formats. “I have always worked hard on my red ball game and it has been my conscious effort not to be one dimensional. If you have to play for India, you have to be consistent across formats and that’s why I have done a lot of work in both the departments of the game.

“As much as I have worked on my batting, I have also worked on my bowling,” Iyer said.

His 370 runs in IPL for KKR, coupled with a steady medium pace that fetched him three wickets, propelled him to the national level. He is being seen in place of Hardik Pandya, who is still not fit to bowl and is not quite fit as a pure batsman. Iyer, who took six fifties and seven wickets for Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, believes his consistency not only in the IPL but also in first-class cricket has helped him achieve this position.

Did he think he would make it during the IPL in UAE? “I must say that it was not just the IPL that made me believe that I can represent my country. When I was playing Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali for my state Madhya Pradesh, I always knew that if I kept doing well in domestic cricket, I would one day play for India. “I’ve always had that belief.”

After living in Indore, it was local coach Dinesh Sharma who first harnessed his talents as he rapidly progressed through the ranks of age-group cricket, captaining the under-23 state team. When he touched base in the UAE with the KKR team in the last week of August, he could not have imagined that he would make so much progress in just a few months.

Two and a half months later, he was sitting in his hotel room in Delhi with teammates from Madhya Pradesh when fellow national team entrant Avesh Khan broke the news to him. “We had a match (vs Kerala) and it was Avesh who came to my room and told that we both have been selected. Obviously, there could not have been a better feeling than this,” revealed Iyer sitting down with his teammates.

He was honest in his confession that while he was working on his dream, he didn’t think it would come true so soon. “No, I never thought life would take such a beautiful turn. I don’t expect anything but believe in taking things as they come. Yes, I am very happy and excited because it is that dream.” What you are living for but to be honest, I never thought it would happen so soon.”

A lesser known aspect about Iyer is that he had once received a job offer at Deloitte, a multi-national auditing company, but decided to pursue cricket with the encouragement of his parents. With an MBA degree in Finance, he has passed the foundation and inter-level examination of Chartered Accountancy. Iyer attributes his cricketing smarts to being a diligent student.

“(Being good) academics helps with your thinking and decision making ability. It can give you an edge over others. Being a good student is something inherently to me. It gives me a slight edge over others, Said the slender man from Indore, who could be Rohit Sharma’s deadly weapon.

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