How Much Virat Kohli Earns Per Year

India’s best player in the last decade and arguably the world’s best batsman across all three formats during the same time, Virat Kohli earns Rs 15 crores from the Indian Premier League every year and Rs 7 crores from BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) as an A+ grade contracted player.

As per his BCCI contract, Virat Kohli earns Rs 15 lakhs from every Test match, Rs 6 lakhs from every ODI match and Rs three lakhs from every T20I match he plays. Add this to his brand endorsements, and Virat Kohli’s current worth is reported to be around Rs 1040 crores. Kohli’s net worth has almost doubled in the last five years - from USD 65 million in 2018 to USD 127 million in 2023.

When IPL started in 2008, each IPL team was free to choose an “Icon Player”. Rahul Dravid was the Icon Player for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Also, the IPL teams were supposed to pick a player from the Under-19 team. There was a huge buzz that the Delhi IPL franchise would pick Virat Kohli who was then the captain of India’s Under-19 team. But when the draft came Delhi chose to go with Pradeep Sangwan a left-arm seamer as they wanted a bowler. Virat Kohli’s turn was next and he was picked up by the Bangalore-based franchise RCB. 

Under the aegis of Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli played in RCB with a salary of Rs 12 lakhs from 2008 to 2010. After Kohli won the ODI World Cup in 2011 and became a regular in the India team, his salary saw a massive hike earning Rs 8.28 crores in 2011. By 2013, Kohli was the best batsman for India and many touted him to be the next Indian cricket team captain after MS Dhoni.

RCB wasted no time in highlighting Kohli’s leadership skills by making him the team, captain in 2013 and increasing his salary to Rs 12.5 crores the following year. IPL 2016 saw Kohli hit supreme form as he tallied an unbelievable 973 runs in 16 matches and he was elected Indian white-ball captain a year later. Kohli had become a brand by now and RCB wanted to make him the face of the franchise, which reflected in his salary of Rs 17 crores.

The IPL 2022 mega auction saw RCB retaining Kohli Rs 15 crores although he more than makes up for the two crores through other winnings. To sum up, Kohli has earned over Rs. 173 crores in his 16 years of IPL career.

Virat Kohli's Sponsorships and Endorsements

Cricketers are pegged above the movie stars and politicians in India, hence Kohli’s earnings off the field are no less. Apart from his yearly IPL salary and BCCI contract, Kohli earns a whopping Rs 196 crores through endorsements and sponsorships.

Unlike most other cricketers of the previous era, Kohli used his rapidly rising earnings to invest in 30-plus brands ranging from apparel and cars to sports brands, luxury watches and health drinks. His current eight-year deal with MRF Tyre is reportedly worth Rs 100 crores while his tie-up with Puma, which lasts till 2015, is reportedly priced at Rs 110 crores.

Reports also suggest that Kohli charges a whopping Rs 7.5 crores for shooting an advertisement daily. This means he will get more money if the shoot extends to another day. 

Apart from co-owning gym brand Chisel Fitness and fashion brands One8 and WROGN, the former India captain is also the owner of the International Premier Tennis League team UAE Royals and Indian Super League side FC Goa.

Virat Kohli Earnings from Social Media

The most popular Asian on the planet, Virat Kohli has 265 million followers on Instagram, 51 million on Facebook and 59.7 million on Twitter. Consequently, Kohli charges Rs 8.9 crore per post on Instagram and Rs 2.5 crore to post on his Twitter account. 

Virat Kohli: Career Summary

Known as the king of cricket and the chase master by the fans and awarded the Men’s Cricketer of the Decade by the world cricket body ICC, Kohli is the highest centurion in ODI cricket with 50 tons to his name. The second-highest run-scorer in Cricket World Cup history, Kohli was the 2023 ODI World Cup’s highest scorer as Inda ended their campaign as the runners-up. He is also the fastest player to reach 8000, 9000, 10000, 11000, 12000 and 13000 runs.

With four double-hundreds in Tests, Virat Kohli is the second-highest double-centurion in the longest format’s history. He also sits second on the list of most hundreds (4) scored in a Test series. Kohli’s 10 centuries against Sri Lanka is the most any batsman has scored against a single opponent. He is also the second-highest ODI half-centurion with 122 fifties in the 50-over format. With 11 Man of the Series awards in ODIs, he is second on the list.

Kohli’s tally of 4008 T20I runs is the most any player has scored in the shortest format of the game, while his average of 52.73 is the second-highest in the T20I format. He has also scored the most number of fifties (37) in T20Is.