Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, both former Indian skippers remain two of the most beloved and adored cricketers in India till date.
Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket in 2020, but he continues to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, CSK did retain Dhoni, but there's still an air of uncertainty whether Dhoni will continue as skipper of CSK or not.
In the meantime, Virat Kohli had also announced last year that he won't be captaining Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) this time around, so it means that Kohli will feature only as a batsman for the IPL franchise.
But do you know how much Kohli and Dhoni earned as their first paychecks in the inaugural auction of the IPL?
Here's how much MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli earned as their first IPL paychecks in 2008:
Virat Kohli recently revealed to the RCB podcast that he was in Malaysia at the time when the IPL's inaugural draft was taking place. Kohli was the skipper of the India U-19 team, in 2008 and he would lead India to their second only World Cup title in the under-age category.
Interestingly, Kohli who hailed from Delhi was on the radar of Delhi Daredevils as well, however, in the end, they opted to sign Pradeep Sangwan, and Kohli was snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for a sum of INR 12 lakhs.
He would then go on to become IPL's highest run-scorer and has been retained by RCB ahead of the upcoming season for a value of INR 15 crore.
MS Dhoni meanwhile, had already led India to the maiden T20I World Cup title in 2007 and was unsurprisingly the biggest attraction among Indian players at the inaugural IPL auction. He sparked bidding wars at the time, and Chennai Super Kings ultimately secured Dhoni's services for INR 6 crore.
He led CSK to four IPL titles and has been retained by the franchise once again for a value of INR 12 crore.
