"Subjected To Hate When Shubman Gill Gets 100": RCB Star Shows Ugly Side Of IPL

Shubman Gill had joined Gujarat Titans after being released by KKR© AFP

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Venkatesh Iyer has opened up on the online hate he received from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fans after the franchise decided to retain him while releasing Shubman Gill. Ahead of IPL 2022, KKR let Gill go, with the batter eventually joining Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rs 8 crore as one of the three players drafted by the franchise alongside Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan. In a teaser for an upcoming podcast, Venkatesh revealed that he continues to be trolled whenever Gill scores a century.

"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 opened up on the dynamics before the IPL 2026 auction, after KKR released his him, and how he directly approached co-owner Shah Rukh Khan over a potential change of heart.

"I had kept an hankerchief on the side. I even asked Shah Rukh sir," he said.

The 31-year-old, who was eventually picked up by defending champions RCB, revealed that he was not even thinking about KKR, let alone the Rs 23.75 crore the franchise had paid to buy him back ahead of the 2025 season, during the IPL 2026 auction.

"I didn't even think about the pay cut. I had already started thinking, 'Okay, it's not going to be purple'," he said.

On life after joining RCB, Venkatesh revealed that the passion of the franchise's fans 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 warming the bench during the initial phase of the season, Venkatesh made his RCB debut as an Impact Substitute following a top-order collapse.

He scored an unbeaten 29 off 15 balls, helping RCB post 201/8 despite eventually ending up on the losing side.

Later in the season, he also produced a standout unbeaten 73 off 40 balls against Punjab Kings.

He finished the season with 209 runs in seven matches at an average of 52.25 as RCB won their second IPL title in a row.

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