Virat Kohli made history when Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) announced their list of retained players on Thursday, October 31, ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction. The franchise from Bengaluru chose to retain only three players, without keeping any overseas players. Additionally, Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal (uncapped) will continue with the team.
Kohli's salary has garnered attention, as RCB will be paying the former Indian captain a substantial Rs. 21 crore. He is among three players retained above the Rs. 18 crore threshold set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), alongside Heinrich Klaasen (Rs. 23 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Nicholas Pooran (Rs. 21 crore by Lucknow Super Giants).
This salary places Kohli in the history books as the first Indian player in the IPL to earn more than Rs. 20 crore. Previously, no Indian player had surpassed Kohli's previous salary of Rs. 17 crore with RCB from 2018-2021, or KL Rahul's Rs. 17 crore with Lucknow Super Giants from 2022-24. Other players such as Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Sanju Samson will earn Rs. 18 crore in this cycle.
In the previous season, Mitchell Starc (Rs. 24.75 crore) and Pat Cummins (Rs. 20.5 crore) made history by becoming the first two players to earn more than Rs. 20 crores after a fierce bidding war in the mini-auction.
In the upcoming 2025 season, Kohli is poised to further solidify his legacy by becoming the first player in history to represent the same franchise for 18 consecutive seasons. Having joined the RCB in 2008, Kohli will reach the remarkable milestone of 20 years with the team at the conclusion of the current three-year cycle.
Notably, Kohli will be joined in the prestigious Rs. 20 crore club by fellow Indian cricketers KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant in the upcoming auction. It is anticipated that more Indian players will surpass this significant financial benchmark.
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