IPL 2018: Virat Kohli Becomes Most Expensive Player In IPL History

Royal Challengers Bangalore, on Thursday (January 4), shattered all the previous record to retain their talismanic skipper Virat Kohli for a whopping amount of Rs 17 crore. The amount has made the India skipper the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League.

Kohli went past his India and former Royal Challengers Bangalore Yuvraj Singh’s record who was bought for Rs 16 crore by Delhi Daredevils in 2015.  The 29-year old has been with the Bangalore-based franchise since the inaugural season in 2008. He was given the captaincy responsibility in 2013 and had led the side to the final of the IPL in 2016. The Delhi batsman was also the top-scorer in the 2016 season, scoring a mind-boggling 973 runs with the help of four centuries. So far, the right-handed batsman has scored 4,418 runs in 149 IPL matches.

The Royal Challengers have also retained AB de Villiers and Sarfraz Ahmed. Some notable players who were not retained by the franchise were KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

The franchise would be hoping that their fortunes change in the upcoming season. The Royal Challengers have earned the reputation of perennial underachievers despite having some of the best players in the world. Last year, they finished at the bottom of the league despite the likes of Kohli, de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Yuzvendra Chahal in the side.

Well, the team will have the option to buy some of their top players at the auction with Right To Match (RTM) cards. According to the retention policy, the franchises can retain a maximum of five players by a combination of player retention and right-to-match (RTM) cards (during the auction). The auction will be held in Bengaluru later this month.

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