ROI analysis of the 5 highest paid players in IPL 2016

#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