Virat Kohli Plays For RCB While MS Dhoni Played For CSK In IPL ( Photo Credit – Facebook )
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It was in 2008, almost more than a decade ago, that India saw some of its biggest cricketers getting ready to be sold. Indian Premiere League arrived, and everyone was in disbelief, looking at celebrities getting auctioned. But the whole thing is that ki Bhaiya sabse bada rupaiyaa. Right from Captain Cool MS Dhoni to the newbie who arrived – Virat Kohli, everyone was priced.
MS Dhoni – The Highest Priced Cricketer
In the first season of the IPL auction, MS Dhoni turned out to be the cricketer who was auctioned at the highest price. His base price was set as $400,000. But he was sold at almost 275% higher price at $1,500,000. Going by the exchange rate, which was around 40 Rupees per USD, he was sold at a whopping price of around 6 crore!
Virat Kohli’s IPL Debut
While MS Dhoni was the cricketer sold at the highest price, followed by Andrew Symonds, there was a newbie on the block who led India’s glory in the Under 19 Cricket World Cup that was held in Kuala Lumpur. Kohli was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore from the U19 draft in the inaugural season of IPL.
MS Dhoni was peaking when Kohli entered the cricket scene in India. In 2008, in the first edition of IPL, Dhoni was auctioned at a 4900% higher price than Kohli, who was picked by RCB against a price of 12 lakh only! Kohli was retained at the same base price in the next season of IPL (2009) by RCB against a one-year contract. However, none knew that the tables would turn soon!
Dhoni = Kohli, 2011 IPL
The tables turned within 3 years, and in 2011, during the IPL auctions, Sakshi Dhoni and Anushka Sharma‘s men were sold at the same price and were taken by their respective teams, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB & CSK both picked Kohli and Dhoni at $1,800,000. Going by the Indo-US exchange rate in 2011, their price was around 8 crore that year.
Dhoni VS Kohli’s IPL Career
While both former Indian Cricket Team captains started their IPL careers in 2008, Kohli plays for RCB, and Dhoni plays for CSK. However, he played with Pune for the two years when Chennai Super Kings was banned from IPL. While Kohli has played a total of 237 matches, Dhoni has played 250 matches. Kohli’s total runs in 237 matches account for 7263 runs, while Dhoni has made 5082 runs in his IPL career of 250 matches.
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