‘There is a lot of Yuvraj Singh in him’ – Parthiv Patel praises KKR’s Venkatesh Iyer after his match-winning knock against MI

Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel saw glimpses of Yuvraj Singh in Venkatesh Iyer after the latter’s match-winning knock against Mumbai Indians on Thursday, September 23 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Iyer’s blistering 30-ball 53, laced with four fours and three sixes, guided Kolkata Knight Riders to a seven-wicket victory versus MI.

The southpaw made sure that the Knights chased down 157 with 29 balls to spare and moved to fourth in the points table. Patel, who retired from all forms of cricket in 2020, stated that he was amazed by the level of maturity the 26-year-old Iyer showed for the Men in Gold and Purple.

The 36-year-old Patel termed him “fearless” and went on to draw his parallels with Yuvraj, one of India’s finest all-rounders in the limited-overs formats.

Venkatesh Iyer will have a great future, says Patel

“We do talk about a lot of boundaries. But the maturity that Venkatesh Iyer showed was superb. We are talking about someone who is not an India A player, someone who has not played international cricket.

“He showed so much maturity and courage to go out there and back himself. That’s something we always look out for in young players in the IPL. He went out and played fearless cricket.

“One of the great things about him, having seen him, he can not only open, he can bat from 1 to 9 and bowl as well. So, he will have a great future. I think there is a lot of Yuvraj Singh in him. There is a lot of flow,” Parthiv told Star Sports.

Iyer started his IPL career with a quickfire 41 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, helping the Knights to a nine-wicket win. In the previous game, he took his game a notch up and racked up a half-century off 25 balls.

Former England spinner Graeme Swann lauded Iyer for his “swag” while batting and reckoned that the left-hander should have got the Player of the Match award.

“The boy has got swag and talent. I love the way he goes about his cricket. He is my Man of the Match,” Swann said. Sunil Narine became the Man of the Match after picking up Rohit Sharma’s wicket.