India and Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer on Friday joined Lancashire for a short stint comprising two Division One matches and One-Day Cup scheduled for next month, the English county announced. Iyer, who was a member of the IPL winning KKR side, has played two ODIs and nine T20Is for India. He has also played 20 First-Class matches, 43 List-A games. “The batting all-rounder joins the Club on an initial contract for the One-Day Cup and the following two rounds of County Championship matches in late-August,” Lancashire said on their website.

“Lancashire is a very historic county with a long history of welcoming Indian players to their Club. I am looking forward to emulating the likes of Farokh Engineer, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and most recently Washington Sundar in wearing the Red Rose colours at Old Trafford,” Iyer said in a statement.

“To test my skills in both one-day and first-class cricket in English conditions is going to really benefit my game,” he added.

Lancashire’s director of cricket performance Mark Chilton said, “He comes highly recommended after playing alongside Phil Salt during this year’s IPL and we are excited to see what he can bring to our side during the next month,” he added.

“Venkatesh will add experience to a young side during the One-Day Cup, whilst providing an explosive batting option in the middle-order and another seam bowler that we can turn to with the ball.” “He will also be available for our County Championship matches against Surrey and Hampshire towards the end of August and gives us another high-quality overseas option to select from,” he said.

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