Virat Kohli’s RCB journey in IPL – From Rs 12 lakh to 21 crore in 17 years

New Delhi: Star Indian cricketer Virat Kohli will extend his prolific with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after being named as the franchise’s top-most retention on Thursday. He was retained for a whopping amount of INR 21 crore to confirm his 18th straight season in the Red and Golden colours.

RCB made only three retentions with Indian batter Rajat Patidar (INR 11 crore) and uncapped pacer Yash Dayal (INR 5 crore) joining the batting maestro in the squad ahead of the mega auction.

There was no doubt that Kohli would be RCB’s top redrafention choice, but the asking price for that position was INR 18 crore. RCB retained Patidar as the second capped retention for INR 11 crore. The amount to retain the second player set by the IPL governing council was INR 14 crore. The United Spirits-owned franchise deducted the amount from Patidar’s price only to add it to Kohli’s retention price.

This has been a prolonged IPL journey for Kohli, who happens to be the only player to play for a single franchise since the inception of the T20 league in 2008.

Virat Kohli’s pay rise in IPL over the years

While leading the India at the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia, Kohli was picked in the IPL draft by RCB for a reportedly USD 30000 (which was INR 12 lakh at that point). That was the start of an unbroken alliance till date with many coaches, star players, management coming and going at RCB, but the only person that is constant is Kohli.

He performed exceptionally in the initial three years for the franchise, which influenced the then team management to retain the Delhi-born player as their lone retention before the 2011 IPL mega auction for more than INR 82 lakh. He became the captain of the RCB in the next season (in 2012) and his stature increased after scoring consistently across formats at the international stage.

During the 2014 IPL mega auction, Virat Kohli was retained by RCB for INR 12.5 crore, a massive surge in his salary. Four years later, the iconic Indian batter became the most expensive retention in IPL history when he was retained for INR 17 crore by the Bengaluru outfit.

He was again the top retention for RCB ahead of the 2022 IPL mega auction, though his price was decreased to INR 15 crore. After another astounding season with the bat in IPL 2024 with 741 runs from 15 matches, Kohli has hit the jackpot with INR 21 crore. This is a massive increase from his first payment in IPL 2008.

Virat Kohli IPL salary year-wise: 2008 to 2025

Here’s the price for Virat Kohli’s IPL salary from 2008 to 2025: