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Is Virat Kohli's IPL salary justified?

Smudger

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Kohli is playing ipl for 10 years and only in 2016 did he had a great season. But in all other season he is average to above average . Hr has career sr of 130 even though he plays in Banglore. Especially in last 2 seasons . He has played some extremely selfish jnnings.
Dont think he has even one match winning 50 . He is similar player to other members of fab 4 and he is treated like he can send every ball into the stands. I read that a lot of ppers think that kohli can get 40 ball hundreds or play at a vey high sr from ball 1. But in reality he is no way near AB. Kihli fastest in ALL t20s is 26 balls.
Kohli is living under shadow of AB who is hands down a better t20 batter. AB can win games on his own. Tell me one game which kohli won on his own when rrr was more than 12 for more than 5 overs . He lacks the power game of AB.
My point is why give him 17 crore
When u can by better players than kheljoria, binny and make a better overall team. And on top of that he is a clueless captain
 
Kohli is playing ipl for 10 years and only in 2016 did he had a great season. But in all other season he is average to above average . Hr has career sr of 130 even though he plays in Banglore. Especially in last 2 seasons . He has played some extremely selfish jnnings.
Dont think he has even one match winning 50 . He is similar player to other members of fab 4 and he is treated like he can send every ball into the stands. I read that a lot of ppers think that kohli can get 40 ball hundreds or play at a vey high sr from ball 1. But in reality he is no way near AB. Kihli fastest in ALL t20s is 26 balls.
Kohli is living under shadow of AB who is hands down a better t20 batter. AB can win games on his own. Tell me one game which kohli won on his own when rrr was more than 12 for more than 5 overs . He lacks the power game of AB.
My point is why give him 17 crore
When u can by better players than kheljoria, binny and make a better overall team. And on top of that he is a clueless captain

How many matches ABD has won when RRR was more than 12 for over 5 overs?
 
Having the most popular cricketer in India playing for it helps the brand and naturally increase its value and fan base although his performance hasn't led the team to greatness it's a tricky one overall it isn't justified but at his peak most teams will pay to have Kohli representing them.
 
I don't think that Kohli is motivated by playing in IPL as much as he is by playing for India. Just looks very disinterested. Which is a good thing.
 
I don't think that Kohli is motivated by playing in IPL as much as he is by playing for India. Just looks very disinterested. Which is a good thing.
Stop giving excuses. He played with stiches in 2016
 
I think captaincy in IPL weighs him down year after year. That is the difference between Kohli and Dhoni. Kohli needs to be part of a good team to perform while Dhoni makes average players look good with his captaincy.
 
Kohli needs a ready made set up to take over and lead. If you give him a new set up he will take years to get used to it and make it a winning team. In IPL it is absolutely impossible to have the same team for years. You have to quickly adapt, understand the team and put together a winning combination and atmosphere. Dhoni did, Gambhir did, Warne did. Those teams were not exactly the strongest teams of the IPL. Even in this year Ashwin with an average team is doing much better than Kohli's team. He is not a natural captain or leader. He just reacts and throws in the towel when things go wrong. In Tests he can't mess up as it is already set. In ODIs some other captain would have achieved a lot more given the talent at his disposal.
 
His employer thinks he is worth the 18cr. So dont know why others have any issues.

He is the highest or 2nd highest run getter in IPL.
 
He brings crowd so any team is profitable even if kohli is flop for every season. People will keep coming to watch him every year doesn't matter his performance or his team's.
 
This IPL he looks off colour and seems the motivation to achieve is missing, its understandable after all he has nothing more to prove . its likely that we have already seen the best of Kohli in T-20s.

But there is no denying that he is biggest crowd puller of IPL , I am dis-interested in other teams but Bangalore I follow keenly because of Kohli and never miss a moment when he is at the crease.
 
They would probably pay him double if necessary.

Kohli has mass appeal, increases jersey sales, best T20I batsman of all time, and is national team captain. He's their golden goose even if they lose.

Afridi is similar (obviously lesser in quality) with the same appeal. Superstars are great for business and performance doesn't even come into the equation with these guys.
 
I don't think that Kohli is motivated by playing in IPL as much as he is by playing for India. Just looks very disinterested. Which is a good thing.

It wouldn't be a good thing, and if anything he looks more motivated than some India games.
 
He is actually not perfectly suited for T20... T20 is for power-hitters because a 28(11) is much better than even 51(40). If India has power-hitters like in West Indies, then people like Kohli, Rohit, etc. should actually sit out of T20 (That's what even great Sachin did, and he realized that even in those days!) Nothing to feel ashamed of to admit this... These people value their wickets more than the runs they score, and this is essential for Test & ODI formats! You don't want these guys to completely change their game-style and get destroyed in other formats. (That's why WI team is so weak in tests and even ODIs) You can say about ABD, but ABD is a different player, he is somebody like Dhoni at his best! While Kohli is like Amla (superior to him anyhow, because of chasing ability). Actually Kohli is not the only target, even Dhoni & ABD are criticized for their T20 abilities at various times, because even they are best suited for ODIs.

But IPL has provision for all players because of dearth of talent because it is still a domestic tournament with restriction on quantity of international players (+ also it is for financial benefits to the players). Hence if these players play, and if they don't perform up to your expectation, then you can't blame them or call them selfish! Here you are talking about RCB, but let me tell you that there are similar such players or even worse ones distributed in other teams as well. But those teams also have the players who are specialists in T20 and hence these players get hidden behind them. So its a fairly distributed contest in that regard! Or in other words they get complemented & will play the supporting role (hold one end or something). Problem with RCB is they have lot of missing links... Kohli can play that anchor role, ABD can play the power game, but in between everyone else are missing... You need next set of power hitters which they don't have... (Also the bowling issues to make matters worse) If you look at successful WI T20 teams, they probably had only one anchor (Samuels) and rest all are power-hitters revolving around him. This will work for RCB and Indian team as well, with Kohli playing the role of Samuels In fact Kohli will be 10 times more effective than Samuels "provided" (please note) that he plays with a team similar to WI. But the problem is India has another guy in the same mode (for T20s) - Rohit. So the solution is - you should actually pick only one between Rohit & Kohli for T20 team (choice is yours & obvious) But Kohli & Shastri will think otherwise & mess up things! Sure they will form a very good team for ODI, but not for T20 and also they will do the same mistake for Test Matches.

It becomes very hard to balance and play according to all three formats... Kohli got tested in this, but since he is the best around he tries to manage it, but still things slip up sometimes... Similar thing happened to Rahul where he was somewhat tested for all three formats, but him still trying to cement place in the side it became too difficult to live up to the challenge! Dhawan also got affected and could not deliver at test level even though he wishes to do well there... In fact Dhawan would have been successful even in Tests if there was only ODI and no T20s around (he would have tightened his defense).

Hence the problem with RCB is the whole team, team composition, management and even captaincy! So you can criticize Kohli - the captain to some extent and not his batting in the tournament (In fact he has batted as well as Dinesh Karthik, Kane Williamson or other successful captains if you notice closely! It is about the team!) But you cannot remove him from captaincy because he is the captain of Indian Team itself! Things are complicated!
 
I wouldn't mind if MI paid 20+ crore to get him. But just for batting. Don't even let him talk to bowlers.
 
Worth it on marketing alone.

It is hilarious that Kane is outperforming him, he's a poor T20 player :))
 
Worth it on marketing alone.

It is hilarious that Kane is outperforming him, he's a poor T20 player :))

He is poor only in IPL. He is the greatest international T-20 batsman of all time.
 
When despite already scoring nearly 400 runs, it's being said he's not performing you know how high the bar Kohli has set for himself. He could end up with 500+ runs in a season which for most other batsmen will be a dream.
 
When despite already scoring nearly 400 runs, it's being said he's not performing you know how high the bar Kohli has set for himself. He could end up with 500+ runs in a season which for most other batsmen will be a dream.

You are not getting the point . Even though he is scoring runs but all his runs are useless and selfish.
I dont think he has 1 match winning 50 in previous 2 seasons .
Hell even asad shafiq can score these useless runs
 
IPL salaries are not about output or captaincy, unless something is absolutely disastrous.

Kohli is the biggest name in Indian cricket in the 2010s, and he gets paid on that basis alone.
 
You are not getting the point . Even though he is scoring runs but all his runs are useless and selfish.
I dont think he has 1 match winning 50 in previous 2 seasons .
Hell even asad shafiq can score these useless runs

If you call knocks like 57 (30), 68*(44), 92*(62) is useless selfish innings, then no point in debating further. All cricket teams would love to have one selfish guy scoring these useless runs!

You can criticize Kohli's leadership, which will be valid, being critical of his batting this season is not on. He was mostly playing with an injury last year.
 
Kohli is a most popular player and sports icon in india currently. He will always be highest paid in ipl compared to any other player. Because it is not only about cricketing skills, his brand value and fan following also matters.

It is upto ab devillers to decide whether he is happy with his contract price or he wants to enter auction to earn higher amount next time.
 
SRH would win 15 out of 10 games (which means some double margin victories & 10 over victories) if he plays for them... He will form the strong nucleus of any "good" T20 team around which all other shining electrons will crackle at immense speed as in copper metal. That team's quality will get doubled automatically! On the other hand, if he gets into a weaker side, all the dusty dead electrons will fall over him & eclipse him completely...

Though this looks exaggeration, but its actually the reality of how the team-owners & fans look at it from financial perspective at least!

Unfortunately we may realize after the world cup that how poor a captain he is! We may have to wait till them :( Hopefully he will not lose much of his batting skills by then in between these captaincy, IPL, team selection and other messes...
 
Lol, as if performance matters in these these leagues. Haven't Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni been two of the most expensive players over the last couple of seasons? Ditto with Misbah and Afridi in the Pakistani edition?

The players will get rich just by showing up which is what most of the stars have been doing and good for them, if I was a professional cricketer of some renown, I'd love to be paid big money for little to no work and focus my energies on my international duties.

However, fans who think that these leagues are sustainable are in for a rude awakening.
 
Lol, as if performance matters in these these leagues. Haven't Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni been two of the most expensive players over the last couple of seasons? Ditto with Misbah and Afridi in the Pakistani edition?

The players will get rich just by showing up which is what most of the stars have been doing and good for them, if I was a professional cricketer of some renown, I'd love to be paid big money for little to no work and focus my energies on my international duties.

However, fans who think that these leagues are sustainable are in for a rude awakening.

The brand value of IPL and the teams keeps increasing yearly most definitely they are here to stay and more watched than test cricket they are affecting international cricket more than it looks like in the long term.
 
Lol, as if performance matters in these these leagues. Haven't Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni been two of the most expensive players over the last couple of seasons? Ditto with Misbah and Afridi in the Pakistani edition?

The players will get rich just by showing up which is what most of the stars have been doing and good for them, if I was a professional cricketer of some renown, I'd love to be paid big money for little to no work and focus my energies on my international duties.

However, fans who think that these leagues are sustainable are in for a rude awakening.

I have been hearing this since 2009 the second season of the IPL. Here we are a whole decade later and things are only growing. More of the leagues are being formed.

I do know what the future holds. But I don't believe things will go south anytime soon, say in the next 15-20 years. At least in the case of IPL, PSL, BBL.
 
There was this one season 2-3 years ago where he scored 4 hundreds in one season and at a great strike rate too. If he can bat like that he is being way underpaid.

But he hasn’t been able to show that form in any other season so it’s understandable.
 
The brand value of IPL and the teams keeps increasing yearly most definitely they are here to stay and more watched than test cricket they are affecting international cricket more than it looks like in the long term.

I have been hearing this since 2009 the second season of the IPL. Here we are a whole decade later and things are only growing. More of the leagues are being formed.

I do know what the future holds. But I don't believe things will go south anytime soon, say in the next 15-20 years. At least in the case of IPL, PSL, BBL.

The competition in the domestic T20 market is reaching levels where at least a few of these will die off naturally. Then you have the over saturation of T20 cricket, with the proposed two-year gap between WT20s, Asia Cup T20s, proposed two IPL seasons, even MORE T20 leagues such as the GLT20 and the English T20 league popping up. Additionally, the rise of the T10 format - an iteration even more suited to the current generation - might also, quite ironically, play a part in the T20 format's death.

This is not even a Pakistan vs India thing because the PSL is definitely a part of the problem too. If league cricket is not substantially reigned in, hardcore cricket fans will be the biggest losers.
 
I think captaincy in IPL weighs him down year after year. That is the difference between Kohli and Dhoni. Kohli needs to be part of a good team to perform while Dhoni makes average players look good with his captaincy.

Lol. What did Dhoni do last two years when he had an average team? Seriously. Stop overhyping Dhoni dude. I agree Virat is a dumb captain and Dhoni is def better than him but overhyping Dhoni as if he is the best ever captain is little too much.
 
If you call knocks like 57 (30), 68*(44), 92*(62) is useless selfish innings, then no point in debating further. All cricket teams would love to have one selfish guy scoring these useless runs!

You can criticize Kohli's leadership, which will be valid, being critical of his batting this season is not on. He was mostly playing with an injury last year.
That’s right. I don’t like his captaincy and team selection but he is one of the best t20 batsmen. He can score runs consistently with decent strike rate.
 
LOL.... IPL lasts 45 days. Stop judging people based on IPL, even Rahane is not striking GOLD with RR.
 
Funny thing is is if there was no salary cap, Kohli could end up raking in 10-12 million dollars and Franchises will pay for it!

He's currently the biggest superstar in India and gets paid more than any other celebrity for his endorsements including anyone from bollywood.
 
Kohki gets paid because of his brand value. He doesn't need to score many runs. Any team will be delighted to have Kohli, he's the biggest brand in India.
 
The competition in the domestic T20 market is reaching levels where at least a few of these will die off naturally. Then you have the over saturation of T20 cricket, with the proposed two-year gap between WT20s, Asia Cup T20s, proposed two IPL seasons, even MORE T20 leagues such as the GLT20 and the English T20 league popping up. Additionally, the rise of the T10 format - an iteration even more suited to the current generation - might also, quite ironically, play a part in the T20 format's death.

This is not even a Pakistan vs India thing because the PSL is definitely a part of the problem too. If league cricket is not substantially reigned in, hardcore cricket fans will be the biggest losers.

Do you see things going south in the next 2-5 years? Or longer?

I personally feel some of these leagues are robust enough that they are not going anywhere for the next decade. Any predictions beyond that is just crap shoot.
 
Kohli doesn't care much about ipl and league cricket in general he knows it's all tamasha at the end of the day doesn't take much to see the difference between his motivation when he plays for RCB and when he plays for India
 
Lol. What did Dhoni do last two years when he had an average team? Seriously. Stop overhyping Dhoni dude. I agree Virat is a dumb captain and Dhoni is def better than him but overhyping Dhoni as if he is the best ever captain is little too much.

U probably weren't aware but CSK was banned for a couple of years. Dhoni wasn't even a captain last year and the year before was a new team and a new franchise. Stop unnecessary hate and see how successful Dhoni has been as a captain in IPL and internationally in LOIs
 
It's decided by the market actually. Some of the MLB, NFL or F1 contracts are insane, but not everyone is winning or delivering as expected. I read Schumi signed for Mercedes in his comeback for $35mn/year base wage (20mn BP/year, at 2010 exchange rate) (+ Bonuses) and he didn't win a single race for them in 3 years (Only one podium finish).

In sports (entertainment), it's really difficult to justify what is worth for a player, rather market determines. Some of the top African players earn over $100K/week just as base wage, and they are paid like $1K/game by their National Association even for a WC/ACN qualifier ....... :(
 
One of the most marketable and most popular cricketers on the planet. His salary is justified.
 
No, because as posters have more business sense than these corporators and billionaire businessmen
 
If the rule for only 4 foreign players in a team gets removed there would be a lot of difference in wages then for a lot of players.. Kohli is still a top notch player but he does benefit from from IPL only allowing 4 foreigners in a team.. It’s not just him a lot of others benefit as well and that is the whole purpose of Indian premier league..

So since the salary is being paid in INDIAN premier league it makes sense and one could say he deserves it..
 
U probably weren't aware but CSK was banned for a couple of years. Dhoni wasn't even a captain last year and the year before was a new team and a new franchise. Stop unnecessary hate and see how successful Dhoni has been as a captain in IPL and internationally in LOIs

I meant last to last year. he had an average team, he captained very poorly and lost his captaincy last year.

actually only this IPL he is playing well and but you want us to forget whatever happened in the last 2 yrs. it was horrible to watch him play both in IPL and India team last two yrs.
 
When Unadkat is paid 4000 sterling / ball bowled or 24,000 gbp/over bowled, then Kohli deserves his salary.

Unadkat's salary is 1.3 million sterling. He can bowl a maximum of 24 balls in a match. With 14 matches, he gets paid approx 4,000 gbp/ball (or $5500/ball). That is insane.
 
Kohli is playing ipl for 10 years and only in 2016 did he had a great season. But in all other season he is average to above average . Hr has career sr of 130 even though he plays in Banglore. Especially in last 2 seasons . He has played some extremely selfish jnnings.
Dont think he has even one match winning 50 . He is similar player to other members of fab 4 and he is treated like he can send every ball into the stands. I read that a lot of ppers think that kohli can get 40 ball hundreds or play at a vey high sr from ball 1. But in reality he is no way near AB. Kihli fastest in ALL t20s is 26 balls.
Kohli is living under shadow of AB who is hands down a better t20 batter. AB can win games on his own. Tell me one game which kohli won on his own when rrr was more than 12 for more than 5 overs . He lacks the power game of AB.
My point is why give him 17 crore
When u can by better players than kheljoria, binny and make a better overall team. And on top of that he is a clueless captain

There is no bigger man in the game at the moment... and for Indians to be complaining about it where actors like Shahrukh, Salman and Amir charge 30 crores for 1 movie.. and they hardly do more than one a year. 18 crores is peanuts compared to that.
 
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What's the salary in $?

And yes it's justified. No one gets big bucks for nothing...Kohli is the heart of Indian cricket today. No one else matters more and the people paying him this salary can come up with a million reasons to justify spending whatever they did..
 
If the employer is happy to pay him, who are we to question? He is the biggest sporting brand in India, so it is justified to pay him that much to keep him in your franchise.
 
Yaa its justified and he deserves more as he is the only reason why ppl r flocking stadiums..if not for him who would like to watch that crappy team performances day aftr day for these many years...if not for kohli rcb would had met the position of kingsXI where the home crowd numbers are abysmal
 
Yaa its justified and he deserves more as he is the only reason why ppl r flocking stadiums..if not for him who would like to watch that crappy team performances day aftr day for these many years...if not for kohli rcb would had met the position of kingsXI where the home crowd numbers are abysmal

Kohli should get paid more honestly. IPL is much more of a business than sport, and Kohli is the biggest cricket brand in India.
 
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