ROI analysis of the 5 highest paid players in IPL 2016

The 9th season of the IPL has come to an end, and Sunrisers Hyderabad have been crowned champions of this edition. This is their first IPL title and they truly deserved the victory as they beat the tournament favourites RCB on their home ground at the Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru.

It has been a rather different IPL season, where two new franchise teams – Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions – were inducted into the IPL on account of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals being suspended for two years. The venues of some of the matches had to be shifted from Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur midway through the tournament following the High Court’s orders in light of the acute water crisis in the state of Maharashtra.

The auctions at the beginning of the IPL season were a pretty busy affair, with players from CSK and RR being shifted to other franchise teams. Virat Kohli was the highest paid player this season with RCB retaining him for a whopping 12.5 crore, but they paid him an additional 2.5 crore. The other four highest paid cricketers were MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan who were paid 12.5 crores each, and Rohit Sharma who was retained for 12.5 crores but got 11.5 crores as salary.

Last but not the least Gautam Gambhir was also retained for 12.5 crores but was paid a salary of 10 crores as per the agreement between the player and the franchise.

Here, we take a look at the performances of these five most expensive IPL players of 2016. Coincidently all of them are Indians and barring Dhawan, all are captains of their respective franchise teams.

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#1 Virat Kohli – 15 crores

RCB had retained Kohli as their star performer before the auctions earlier this year. The team had pinned their hopes on Kohli, who has been in red-hot form especially in T20s since the tour of Australia at the beginning of the year. Kohli repaid the faith and responsibility bestowed upon him by the RCB management and was simply outstanding to say the least.

He scored 973 runs in 16 matches – the highest tally by a batsman in a single season in the history of the IPL. But it is not just the sheer volume of runs which Kohli scored, but also the manner in which he has scored them that makes his achievements all the more incredible.

Kohli scored four centuries in this season which again is an IPL record. The Delhi-born batsman all by himself scored 30% of the total runs scored by his franchise, which is staggering to say the least. It would not be entirely untoward to say that this season has belonged to the Indian Test team captain.

His performances have also overshadowed AB de Villiers’ tally of 687 runs, which in itself is an incredible feat. Kohli looked really hungry for the IPL title which has eluded RCB so far.

Kohli looked hungry for the IPL title which eluded RCB in the final. Kohli also contributed immensely to the brand value of RCB bringing in eyeballs to the stadium thereby subsequently having an incremental impact on merchandise sales.

Chinnaswamy Stadium	RCB with Kohli	RCB without Kohli	Impact of Kohli
Seating capacity	30000	24000	6000
Avg ticket price	2000	2000	2000
Total ticket revenue	6 crores	4.8 crores	1.2 crores
RCB total ticket revenue per match	4.8 crores	3.84 crores	96 lakhs
Note: assuming 20 % people come to watch RCB match primarily for Kohli, 80% of total ticket sales goes to the franchise.

#2 MS Dhoni – 12.5 crores

It has been a tough season for MS Dhoni, who is the second-highest paid player. Dhoni has had to deal with the not so envious task of leading a new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants. It has been a painful journey for him this year, after having enjoyed tremendous success as the skipper of a successful CSK team. The 34-year-old managed to score a meagre 284 runs from 14 matches, with a solitary 50 coming against Punjab in their last match of the IPL.

The Indian limited-overs captain has been criticised for batting too low in the limited overs format since long. Even this season he could have batted up the order on numerous occasions but Dhoni also had to deal with the fact that the batting order of RPS was not as strong as CSK's.

Dhoni looked out of sorts and jaded this season. He finally got his mojo back with a tremendous knock of 64 against Kings XI Punjab in the last match against Murali Vijay’s side. Dhoni helped his team chase down 173 runs by blasting an astonishing 23 runs off the last over.

It was some consolation for RPS who avoided the wooden spoon, finishing just above Punjab in the points table.

MCA Stadium	RPS with MS Dhoni	RPS without MS Dhoni	Impact of MS Dhoni
Seating capacity	50000	40000	10000
Avg ticket price	2000	2000	2000
Total ticket revenue	10 crores	8 crores	2 crores
RPS total ticket revenue per match	8 crores	6.4 crores	1.6 crores
Note: Assuming 20 % people come to watch RPS match primarily for Dhoni, 80% of total ticket sales goes to the franchise.

#3 Shikhar Dhawan – 12.5 crores

The flamboyant and dashing southpaw had been retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 12.5 crores. Shikhar Dhawan has been one of the major reasons behind the superb journey of SRH this season. He scored 501 runs in 17 matches at an average of 38.53 with 4 half-centuries.

His opening partnership with skipper David Warner has been one of the most prolific ones in the history of IPL. Dhawan played a pivotal role in many SRH victories over the course of the season.

The duo scored 1,184 runs, which accounts for 55% of the total runs by SRH. They chalked out five half-century partnerships which more than compensated for their relatively weak middle order.

Dhawan had been struggling with his batting before the IPL and even in the first three matches he did not contribute much to the team cause. It was in the fourth match against Gujarat Lions at Rajkot that Dhawan scored a watchful 53 not out and helped SRH win the game along with Warner, who was the dominant partner. That innings helped him spend some much needed time out in the middle and it worked wonders for the southpaw.

In another crucial encounter against Mumbai Indians, Dhawan smashed an unbeaten 82 to help win the game easily against the defending IPL champions.

Rajiv Gandhi Stadium	SRH with Dhawan	SRH without Dhawan	Impact of Dhawan
Seating capacity	50000	45000	5000
Avg ticket price	2000	2000	2000
Total ticket revenue	10 crores	9 crores	1 crore
SRH total ticket revenue per match	8 crores	7.2 crores	80 lakhs
Note: assuming 10 % people come to watch SRH match primarily for Dhawan, 80% of total ticket sales goes to the franchise.

#4 Rohit Sharma – 12.5 crores

The captain of the defending champions, Mumbai Indians, had a lot of expectations on his shoulders, as he was leading a side full of superstars. Rohit Sharma amassed a tally of 489 runs from 14 matches at an average of 44.45 with 5 half-centuries and a strike rate of 132.88.

This IPL season did not pan out for Rohit Sharma or Mumbai Indians as they would have liked. While Sharma was phenomenal while chasing targets, his numbers while setting a target have been abysmal. He scored 394 runs while chasing but a mere 95 runs in 7 innings batting first.

The 29-year-old looked to be out of sorts when his side were batting first, which was an important reason behind Mumbai Indians’ failure to reach the playoffs. Having retained Sharma for 12.5 crores, Mumbai would have hoped that the Indian opener helped them to a top four finish.

Wankhede Stadium	MI with Rohit Sharma	MI without Rohit Sharma	Impact of Rohit Sharma
Seating capacity	30000	27000	3000
Avg ticket price	2000	2000	2000
Total ticket revenue	6 crores	5.4 crores	60 lakhs
MI total ticket revenue per match	4.8 crores	4.32 crores	48 lakhs
Note: assuming 10 % people come to watch MI match primarily for Rohit Sharma, 80% of total ticket sales goes to the franchise.

#5 Gautam Gambhir – 10 crores

Gautam Gambhir, who has been out of favour with the national selectors, had an impressive IPL season despite his team, Kolkata Knight Riders, failing to make it to the final. Gambhir scored 501 runs in 15 matches which included 5 half-centuries at an average of 38.53. However, his batting was a bit on the slower side with him managing a strike rate of just over 120, which isn't anything special considering the mammoth striker-rates we have witnessed this season.

Gambhir scored an unbeaten 90 against SRH at Hyderabad chasing 143, and his partnership with Robin Uthappa was the highlight of the season for KKR. Together they notched up five half-century opening partnerships to become one of the most prolific opening pairs in IPL history.

Gambhir had the chance of taking his team to the playoffs against Sunrisers in the second qualifier, but he was dismissed at an untimely moment in the match which turned the tide against KKR. They eventually got eliminated from the IPL earlier than they would've liked.

Eden Gardens	KKR with Gambhir	KKR without Gambhir	Impact of Gambhir
Seating capacity	60000	54000	6000
Avg ticket price	2000	2000	2000
Total ticket revenue	12 crores	10.8 crores	1.2 crores
KKR total ticket revenue per match.	9.6 crores	8.64 Crores	96 lakhs
Note: assuming 10 % people come to watch KKR match for Gambhir primarily, 80% of total ticket sales goes to the franchise.

So in the final analysis, it is evident that Kohli performed quite wonderfully, while Dhawan and Gambhir were reasonably good too. The other two players – namely Dhoni and Sharma – have not done adequate justice to the fat salaries which they have been drawing.

Both RCB and SRH owe a lot to Kohli and Dhawan for them reaching the final of the IPL this season. MS Dhoni proved to be the most expensive player as far as salary to runs ratio is concerned, while Kohli was the cheapest in this regard.

Performances of the top 5 highest paid players of IPl 2016

Player	Matches	Inngs	Runs	Hs	Avg	Sr	100	50
Virat Kohli	16	16	973	113	81.08	152.03	4	7
MS Dhoni	14	12	284	64*	40.57	135.23	0	1
Shikhar Dhawan	17	17	501	82*	38.53	116.78	0	4
Rohit Sharma	14	14	489	85*	44.45	132.88	0	5
Gautam Gambhir	15	15	501	90*	38.53	121.89	0	5

ROI of a player = Total salary/ Total runs scored by a player

ROI (Return on Investment) analysis of most expensive players in IPL 2016

Highest paid players of IPL 2016	Salary 2016 (a)	Runs scored (b)	Cost of 1 run to franchise c=(a/b)
Virat Kohli	15 crores	973	1.54 lakhs
MS Dhoni	12.5 crores	284	4.4 lakhs
Shikhar Dhawan	12.5 crores	501	2.49 lakhs
Rohit Sharma	11.5 crores	489	2.35 lakhs
Gautam Gambhir	10 crores	501	1.99 lakhs