'Push Venkatesh Iyer Up The Order': India Great's Crucial Advice To kKR

India's decorated spinner Anil Kumble believes that the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders need to move their record-breaking signing, Venkatesh Iyer, up in the batting order after his elongated dry spell with the bat continues in the 18th edition of the cash-rich league. With seven points from nine fixtures, the Knight Riders stand on the verge of seeing their title defence end in the group stage. Kolkata have been tweaking their squad in a bid to find the winning momentum as the group phase heads towards its business end.

Kumble feels it is time for KKR to consider promoting its misfiring vice-captain, Venkatesh, up the batting order, who has remained static in the middle order so far. Venkatesh's struggles reflect in the shift in his batting position from the top order in IPL 2024 to number four or five in the current edition.

In the last chapter of the cash-rich league, Venkatesh thrived with a powerplay strike rate of 220. However, in his new batting position, the southpaw has mustered up 135 runs at an average of 22.50 and a strike rate of 139.17. Venkatesh's 60 (29) against Sunrisers Hyderabad has been his only substantial performance.

"They had an opportunity in this game to move Venky right up the order [in this game]. Open the batting with Sunil Narine and then bring in an Indian wicketkeeper. Anyway, they were looking to drop Ramandeep - okay, fine, get [Luvnith] Sisodia in, he's not a bad player, he can keep wicket. And bring [Anrich] Nortje because Nortje can play instead of Chetan Sakariya," Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out show.

"[Venkatesh] needs that pace on the ball. You have six overs, the powerplay, it's where he can play his natural game, hit over the top. He's done it in the past,