Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower has opened up on the franchise’s decision of going all out for all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer at the IPL 2025 auction held in November last year.
Kolkata Knight Riders bagged the service of the player at a mammoth sum of Rs 23.75 crore. The amount itself explains that the buy was a tough one for KKR as other franchises too went behind the all-rounder, with RCB being one of them. While RCB went even over 20 crore for the player, KKR’s final bid of Rs 23.75 crore proved to be the winner eventually.
After the Rajat Patidar-led side clinched its first-ever IPL title, its head coach Flower revealed what was going behind the franchise’s mind while bidding for Venkatesh Iyer. He was a big flop for KKR in IPL 2025. The all-rounder scored 142 runs in 11 matches and didn’t get an opportunity to bowl.
“We really rated Venky (highly), that’s why we went so hard for him. It was because we valued having a strong Indian core to our team. We wanted some exciting young cricketers and a left-hander in the top order. We didn’t get him. I would like to think if he played for us, he would have had a really great season,” Flower said after RCB’s title win in Ahmedabad.
Former Zimbabwe cricketer and multi-time trophy-winning coach Flower added perhaps the biggest trophy of his franchise cricket coaching career as he helped RCB lift their maiden IPL title after defeating Punjab Kings by six runs in a thrilling final at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on June 3.
After ending as Zimbabwe’s top run-getter in international cricket with 11,580 runs with 16 centuries during his playing days from 1992-2003, Flower has earned as much success as a coach, guiding top-class Australia and England sides and several T20 teams to championship glory.
As England’s team director in the late 2000s to early 2010s, he secured an Ashes series win by 2-1 at home and the Three Lions’ first-ever major world title, the ICC T20 World Cup 2010 under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood. Two more Ashes series win in 2010-11 (a historic 3-1 drubbing of Australia in their own territory) and in 2013 (by 3-0 at home) followed.
In the third edition of Abu Dhabi T10 back in 2019, he guided Maratha Arabians to the title, with experienced T20 campaigner and West Indies icon Dwayne Bravo at the helm of things on the field.
The decade of the 2020s brought Andy massive success, as he teamed up with Pakistan’s star batter Mohammed Rizwan to seal Multan Sultans’ first-ever Pakistan Super League (PSL) title, beating Wahab Riaz-led Peshawar Zalmi by 47 runs in the final.
Even adapting to the format of The Hundred competition in the UK did not affect Flower much tactically as he took Lewis Gregory led Trent Rockets to glory, beating Manchester Originals in a close title clash in 2022.
After some franchise cricket success, a Pat Cummins-led Australia decided to rope in Flower as an assistant coach leading up to the ICC World Test Championship final against India. Australia brought home the Test mace, completing world title wins in all formats and also retained the Ashes after a 2-2 draw in the UK.
He was also the part of the coaching staff which travelled to India for the 2023 World Cup and came back home with the sixth title, making his association with Aussies as his most accomplished one, with trophies in both major formats of cricket, Tests and ODIs.
Following this win, he took part in the 2023 International League T20 season in the UAE, securing the title with the Gulf Giants under the captaincy of England international James Vince.
Now, finally, Flower, ‘the man of firsts’ for many teams, ended RCB’s quest for the maiden IPL title. Several superstars of the game, like Virat Kohli, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David, Phil Salt, etc., came together to fulfill this dream.