Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Venkatesh Iyer has opened up about the online abuse he received from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fans after the franchise decided to retain him while releasing Shubman Gill ahead of IPL 2022.
Gill eventually joined Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rs 8 crore as one of the three players drafted by the franchise, alongside Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan.
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Hardik went on to become the captain of the franchise and led the team to the title in its debut season. Gujarat Titans also reached the final the following year but lost to Chennai Super Kings after a match-winning performance from Ravindra Jadeja.
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In a teaser for an upcoming podcast, Venkatesh revealed that he continues to face trolling whenever Gill scores a century. The 31-year-old also spoke about his relationship with KKR and the events leading up to the IPL 2026 auction.
"I have been subject to a lot of hate for a long time. Even till date, if Shubman is getting a hundred; you go to a KKR page, people would be commenting, 'in search of gold, we lost a diamond' and all of that stuff," Venkatesh said in the teaser of 'Baith & Bol' podcast with Aakash Chopra.
Venkatesh recalled approaching KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan directly to discuss a possible change of heart after the franchise decided to release him ahead of the 2026 auction.
"I had kept an hankerchief on the side. I even asked Shah Rukh sir," he said.
However, the batter revealed that he was not even thinking about KKR during the auction, let alone the Rs 23.75 crore the franchise had spent to buy him back ahead of the 2025 season.
The all-rounder was eventually picked up by defending champions RCB, marking a new chapter in his IPL career.
"I didn't even think about the pay cut. I had already started thinking, 'Okay, it's not going to be purple'," he noted.
Speaking about his experience at RCB, Venkatesh said the passion of the franchise's supporters was unlike anything he had witnessed before.
"You won't believe this, but I saw people actually worshipping the RCB jersey before matches. This was something different. Fandom at a different level," Venkatesh recalled.
After spending the initial phase of the season on the bench, Venkatesh made his RCB debut as an Impact Substitute after the team suffered a top-order collapse.
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He made an immediate contribution, scoring an unbeaten 29 off 15 balls to help RCB post 201/8. However, the team eventually ended up on the losing side.
Venkatesh later produced another impressive performance against Punjab Kings, smashing an unbeaten 73 off 40 balls.
He finished the season with 209 runs in seven matches at an average of 52.25, as RCB went on to win their second IPL title in a row.
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