He took up cricket as a career only after he turned 19, but Venkatesh Iyer has quickly risen up the ranks.
The 26-year-old Madhya Pradesh all-rounder has become the toast of town after his exploits with the bat for the Kolkata Knight Riders in their first two games of the second leg of IPL 2021 in the UAE.
Iyer was nearly lost to academics before his mother made him pursue cricket seriously. Since then, there has been no looking back.
Iyer was at his belligerent best as he took the star-studded Mumbai Indians bowling line-up to the cleaners to power KKR to a thumping seven wicket win with 4.5 overs to spare in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
The KKR bowlers played their part to perfection after Captain Eoin Morgan elected to bowl, by restricting Mumbai Indians to a manageable 155-6.
The power-packed young duo of Shubman Gill and Iyer took centrestage with an attacking approach right from the word go.
Gill set the tone as he gave Trent Boult the charge and flicked him over midwicket for a six in the first over and Iyer pulled the same bowler for another six over square leg.
Iyer then took on Kiwi pacer Adam Milne, with a six and four in the second over, and then smashed Jasprit Bumrah past mid-off for another boundary.
With Rahul Tripathi also starting off positively, KKR raced to 63/1 in six overs.
Iyer was in no mood to relent as he launched Krunal Pandya over midwicket for a big six as he raced to fifty from just 25 balls in the 11th over.
He was finally dismissed by Bumrah who foxed him with the slower ball, but it was only after he left everyone stunned with his sensational strokeplay. He walked back to a standing ovation from the KKR box after scoring 53 from 30 balls, which included four fours and three sixes.
His 88-run partnership with Tripathi off just 52 balls had taken the match out of Mumbai's reach. KKR eased to victory in the 16th over.
