Indian legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar feels Kolkata Knight Riders had to drop Venkatesh Iyer after the all-rounder failed to deliver the goods in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League.

Iyer had done a fine job in the previous season as he had scored 371 runs in 10 matches and he had played a key role in helping his team qualify for the final.

However, Iyer could not repeat the same renditions in IPL 2022 as he has scored 132 runs in nine matches at an average of 16.50 and a strike rate of 97.77. Thus, he hasn’t been at his best for KKR and he was dropped for the match against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday.

KKR has made a lot of changes in their playing XI as they failed to find the winning combination in IPL 2022. Iyer was replaced by Anukul Roy, who conceded only 28 runs in his quota of four overs and accounted for Karun Nair. Furthermore, Roy was brilliant in the field and also took the catch of Riyan Parag.

“They have had to make a couple of changes. Venkatesh Iyer, I was talking about giving someone a long rope. He has played what nine or 10 matches — hasn’t done anything with the bat or the ball. Could be a second-season syndrome for him and that’s the reason why they have decided to go in with someone like Anukul Roy,” Gavaskar said in Star Sports’ pre-match show.

Meanwhile, KKR won against Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets and they will look to continue the good show. Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana scored 42 and 48 runs respectively to get their team over the line in the run-chase of 153 runs.

KKR will look to come up with a collective effort in the remaining matches and they will need to be at the top of their game in the rest of the league stage matches.

KKR will next face Lucknow Super Giants at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday.