Why is Venkatesh Iyer not playing KKR vs CSK IPL 2025 match? Check KKR playing 11

In a breaking news development, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are not playing their premier batter Venkatesh Iyer in the 57th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) taking place at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders have not been at their best so far in the ongoing edition of the T20 tournament with a total of five victories and as many losses from their 11 matches. With this performance, KKR now find themselves in a tricky situation where they have to win all of their remaining three matches in order to qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs. 

Why is Venkatesh Iyer not playing today's KKR vs CSK IPL 2025 match?

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane revealed that Venkatesh Iyer is not part of the KKR playing 11 for this important clash against the Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. Rahane further mentioned that the left-hander was not available for selection due to injury, Incidentally, the KKR team management had a lot of expectations from their premier batter who was bought for a massive amount of INR 23.74 Crore. Iyer has managed to score only 142 runs from as many as 11 matches in IPL 2025 so far for the Kolkata Knight Riders that includes just a single fifty. 

In the absence of Venkatesh Iyer, experienced campaigner Manish Pandey has been included in the KKR playing XI against Chennai Super Kings. While talking about Manish Pandey stats in IPL history so far, the right-hander has notched up a brilliant tally of 3869 runs from 173 matches at a strike-rate of 121.17 that includes 22 half-centuries and 1 hundred. 

"We will bat first. Looks a good wicket. Last two games we batted first and did really well. We want to put runs on the board and defend it. What's important is taking one game at a time. Not thinking much about the future. Lots of learnings from the previous match, guys are looking forward to this game. You are bound to lose close games, but you need to be confident. If there's a chance, we will try to give our best. Venkatesh Iyer misses out, Manish Pandey comes in," said Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane during the toss. 

KKR Playing 11

Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Anrich Nortje, Mayank Markande

KKR IPL 2025 Squad

Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anrich Nortje, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Chetan Sakariya.