No. 1 in the league stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, Royal Challengers Bengaluru continued their sublime form into the decisive stage of the tournament, winning Qualifier 1 and the final to bring the trophy home for the second consecutive year. Despite the fact that RCB continued to put in a splendid all-round show, some of the team’s players had to go through constant abuse on social media. Venkatesh Iyeronce among the top-paid players in the league who arrived in Bengaluru for a price of Rs 7 crore ahead of the 2026 season, continued to remain a punching bag on social media because of a flop 2025 campaign with the Kolkata Knight Riders.
But, when an opportunity arrived, Venkatesh showed the entire cricketing fraternity why he is one of the top-rated talents in the IPL. Venkatesh smashed an unbeaten knock of 73 runs against the Punjab Kings in the league campaign after an injury had ruled skipper Rajat Patidar out of the match. That knock was enough for the RCB management to decide that the all-rounder could not be dropped from the team.
Speaking to NDTV’s Consulting Editor Boria Majumdar in an exclusive interview, Venkatesh explained how he channeled the online hate he was getting into making his bat do the talking.
“To say that it did not impact me would be wrong. It does impact everyone. But yes, 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,” he said.
Despite being at the receiving end of social media hatred, Venkatesh admitted that the career path he has chosen is going to throw such challenges at him. He also thanked the RCB environment for helping him overcome these challenges and deliver on the field.
“But yes, 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 yes, I’m very lucky that I was in an environment that suited my attitude and my, you know, approach towards The game. I was really happy, you know, never felt like I don’t belong here or anything like that.
On Turnaround Knock Against Punjab Kings
For Venkatesh, it’s the first 10 balls of the innings that truly define what a player is going to do. Against Punjab Kings, he was thankful to have the support of Virat Kohli from the other end of the pitch 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.
“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’s cricket, how you’re reacting to situations,” he said.
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