Aaron Finch and Cheteshwar Pujara have raised concerns over Venkatesh Iyer's lack of intent during Kolkata Knight Riders' chase of 199 against Gujarat Titans. Coming in at No. 4 after KKR lost two early wickets at 43/2 in the sixth over, Venkatesh struggled to find any rhythm, especially against GT’s spinners. He eventually got out to Sai Kishore for a sluggish 14 off 19 balls without hitting a single boundary. With the rest of the batting line-up also failing to fire, KKR fell short and lost the match by 39 runs. 

"You need to have an intent to take it [spin] down," said Finch. "You can't hit a six or a boundary if you're not trying to, if your first instinct is to just knock it into the leg side and run one. Then you're on a hiding to nothing and it was just mesmerising, the lack of intent."

KKR boast a deep batting line-up ; Angkrish Raghuvanshi even came in at No. 9 , but apart from skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who scored a solid 50 off 36 balls, none of the other batters managed to cross 30. Raghuvanshi, brought in as the Impact Player, has been shuffled around the order in recent games. This time, Venkatesh Iyer was sent in ahead of him, likely as a left-handed option to tackle GT's spinners. However, Cheteshwar Pujara pointed out that the team management should’ve given Venkatesh clearer instructions on how to approach his innings in that situation.

"There are times when, as a batter, you feel that the conditions are a little challenging," Pujara said. "You just want to knock it around but when you have a timeout, the coaches and the support staff come in and you make another strategy, that 'this is something which is not working, we are leaving too many runs behind'. I do agree that Venkatesh didn't play the role which he should have played. But at the same time, was he told that he just had to knock around when Rashid was bowling and he didn't have to take him on? I don't know what the message was."