Virat Kohli crowns Venkatesh Iyer with legendary South African comparison at RCB nets; ex-KKR star gets new nickname

Venkatesh Iyer is enjoying his time at new home Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder got a huge praise from Virat Kohli at the training session ahead of the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL), that kicks-off on Saturday.

Having spent five seasons with KKR, Iyer was bought by RCB for ₹7 crore at the last-year's auction in Abu Dhabi. Having been acquired for a mammoth ₹23.75 crores by KKR ahead of IPL 2025, the Madhya Pradesh cricketer was released by the three-time champions after a disappointing last season - 142 runs in 11 matches.

However, at RCB things seem to have changed for Iyer as he was caught on camera hitting the off-stump with his bowling, the video of which was shared by the defending champions on social media. "Oh my god," came as reaction from behind. However, the best reaction came from Kohli.

In the video, it showed Kohli took a pause for a while, looking at Iyer's fiery bowling before calling the 31-year-old with a new nickname "Venkateshwar". He also compared the former KKR star with legendary South African pacer Allan Doland. Tu to Allan Donald bana hua hai (You're like Allan Donald)," said the former RCB and India captain.

A hard-hitter of the ball, Iyer's ability to bat anywhere from the top to No.7 along with his seam bowling will be beneficial for RCB. In fact, his couple of overs in the middle can also take the pressure off from another bowler, something which was spoken highly by head coach Andy Flower.

“Even someone bowling one over of seam helps a lot. It takes pressure off one another bowler. One over, that’s important,” Flower stated, as reported by RCB's official website. RCB Director of Cricket Mo Bobat also stated, “My main reason to opt for Venky is that he is a good batter."

RCB's IPL 2026 schedule in first phase