Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel said on Thursday that he sees shades of the great Yuvraj Singh in Kolkata Knight Riders’ new opener Venkatesh Iyer, who produced yet another brilliant performance with the bat to help his team register a 7-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in Match 34 of IPL 2021.

Venkatesh Iyer, who scored a quickfire 41 not out in his maiden IPL game against Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this week, hit his first fifty in the league in only his second match to help KKR gun down the target of 157 in just 16 overs.

Iyer’s fifty came off just 25 balls, which is the fastest by any KKR batsman against MI in the IPL. The 26-year-old played the perfect foil for Rahul Tripathi during their 88-run second wicket partnership which took the game away from MI very early in second half.

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Praising the left-handed Iyer, Parthiv compared him with former India all-rounder Yuvraj and praised his fearless style of play.

“We do talk about a lot of boundaries. But the maturity that Venkatesh Iyer showed was superb. We are talking about someone who is not an India A player, someone who has not played international cricket.

“He showed so much maturity and courage to go out there and back himself. That’s something we always look out for in young players in the IPL. He went out and played fearless cricket.

“One of the great things about him, having seen him, he can not only open, he can bat from 1 to 9 and bowl as well. So he will have a great future. I think there is a lot of Yuvraj Singh in him. There is a lot of flow,” Parthiv said on Star Sports.

Former England spinner Graeme Swann also echoed Parthiv’s sentiments and went on to add that Venkatesh Iyer deserved the Player of the Match award in this game.

“He has got swag. He is very cool, calm and collectd. He doesn’t show a lot of emotions. First ball against Boult and Milne was hit for six. When the spinner come on, the helmet comes off. He is flicking that hair back. The boy has got swag and talent. I love the way he goes about his cricket. He is my Man of the Match,” Swann said on the post-match show.