IPL 2025: What Virat Kohli Needs To Do To Justify His Questionable ₹ 21 Cr Price Tag?

Virat Kohli in RCB Practice ahead of IPL 2025 [Source: @ishi_178/x.com]

As the evening sun beats down on the horizon of the Hooghly River on 22nd March, the spectators at Eden Gardens will fill the seats of the iconic arena with a few expectations in their minds from the first match of IPL 2025. While a typical fan in the purple jersey will hope that Ajinkya Rahane and his men start off the tournament on a winning note, a true cricket fan will expect to see the art on display by Virat Kohli.

Speaking of expectations, Royal Challengers Bengaluru have paid a hefty sum of ₹ 21 Cr to retain their star player and poster boy Virat Kohli. While RCB and Kohi have been synonymous when it comes to IPL, the management must have had some expectations when they decided to pay the sum for him.

So, let us take a look at What Kohli Needs To Do To Justify His Premium Price Tag in IPL 2025. 

Expected Performances From Kohli In IPL 2025

Well, to set the premise let us assume two scenarios, RCB gets eliminated from the league stage and they qualify for the final of the tournament. In these two different scenarios, the expected return from Kohli would be different - 

Quantifying the performance of a player and comparing it with a price and then having a comparison with last year's performance-to-price ratio of the players reveals the fact that for a fair value return, Kohli is expected to score at an average of 36 runs in IPL 2025 with a strike rate of 150. That would translate to around 504 runs in 14 matches and around 612 runs in 17 matches. 

Virat Kohli for RCB in IPL 2024 [Source: @OverCoverss/x.com]

RCB's Return On Investment On Kohli

Now, to have an idea about RCB's return on investment in Kohli, here is a look at what different types of seasons from the star man would mean to the franchise.

Finally just to give you an idea, in the matches where Kohli scores below 36 runs - RCB would lose atleast ₹4.20 lakhs per run on the investment made on him.

What Is The Worth Of Kohli's Runs?

For a player of Virat Kohli's calibre, it will not be a surprise if he returns premium profit for RCB. Just have an idea here is an idea of when his performance would break even for RCB and when he would delivery premium profit.

Virat Kohli perfmrance value chart [Source: OneCricket]

If Kohli scores below 450 runs in 14 match season, then RCB would be a facing a loss on him and in case of a 17 match season the number is below 604 runs. 

With Kohli playing in the first game of the tournament, the hype is real and we are all set to witness once more from one of the prime talents in world cricket.

---

ALSO READ

RCB IPL 2025 Squad Analysis: Will Virat Kohli's Awful IPL Curse End Under Rajat Patidar?

---