5 Most expensive players of IPL 2020 and their cost per run or wicket in first three games

The 13th season of Indian Premier Leagues started on a perfect note. In the first 12 games, we saw two Super Overs, several nail-biting finishes, and some incredible performances. While uncapped and less expensive players like Rahul Tewatia and Mayank Agarwal were outstanding in their teams’ first three games, most of the expensive players of IPL 2020 have disappointed their fans.

The biggest buys of this season, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Morris, Sheldon Cottrell haven’t impressed with their game yet and the formula of constructing your team around 3-4 big players looks faded now. Rajasthan Royals, the team that usually banks on young Indian players has beaten one of the most successful sides and all the credit goes to their uncapped and inexperienced players.

Still, several other teams like, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Sunrisers Hyderabad are quite dependent on their big fishes to perform in every game. So we decided to compare how the big names have performed in this season by comparing their salary of the first three games with the return they produced.

Here we compare the salaries of the 5 most expensive players of IPL 2020 and their performance in the first three games:

5. Rishabh Pant (Salary- 15 crores) | INR 3,34,821 per run

Rishabh Pant, one of the most anticipated youngsters in Indian cricket came into the tournament with a lot of baggage. He was dropped from the Indian team after his disappointing run as a first choice wicketkeeper after MS Dhoni retired. KL Rahul replaced him and captured the position with his outstanding performance.

He hasn’t looked in fine touch this season as his performance has been below par as per his standards. Though his team ended up on the winning side in the first two games, he looked fairly uncomfortable in the middle. Also, before hitting Abhishek Sharma for two consecutive sixes in the third game, he didn’t slam a six for 75 balls in IPL and that’s the longest he has been away from hitting a maximum in IPL.

Rishabh Pant was retained by Delhi Capitals for 15 crores as he has been one of the most amazing hitters in the IPL history. With no experienced finisher in Delhi’s side, Pant’s role is to stay there till the end utilize the death overs with his power-hitting ability. He has scored 96 runs till now and each one of them has cost INR 3,34,821 to the Delhi franchise.

4. Rohit Sharma (Salary- 15 crores) | INR 3,21,428 per run

Rohit Sharma is the most successful captain of IPL history. He gives his franchise a phenomenal brand name along with his exceptional batting and tactful captaincy skills. Rohit is considered as one of the most powerful and complete limited-overs batsmen of all time.

However, his performance in this season can be called a mixture of success and failure. Though he scored a gritty fifty in the only game MI won, his overall performance has been lower than his standards. Also, he has faced a lot of criticism because of his fitness after the lockdown but his performance while fielding hasn’t been much affected by it.

Rohit Sharma is expected to score more consistently in the coming games as Mumbai’s top order is highly dependent on their skipper. Till now each of his 100 runs has costed his franchise more than 3 lakh rupees but if Rohit can take Mumbai to another title win, every single rupee of the 15 crores will be worth it.

3. MS Dhoni (Salary 15 crores) | INR 7,30,519 per run

MS Dhoni, one of the most celebrated cricketers of India and IPL retired from International cricket in August 2020. Though the fan following of this legendary cricketer hasn’t gone down a bit, he has looked quite rusty on the field in IPL 2020. The stumper was playing his first tournament after featuring in the World Cup 2019 for India and that is one of the reasons for his struggle on the field.

However, he looks spectacular behind the wickets, his performance is looking a bit vulnerable with the bat. He has not able to finish the games for his team and his batting position has also faced severe scrutiny in this season. The Ranchi stalwart has scored only 44 runs in this season while facing 31 deliveries.

With the expensive price tag attached to this veteran cricketer, he has an extra burden of performing better. As he is coming back after such a long break, Dhoni might break the shackles soon and score heavy runs in the coming games. However, until now, every run that he has scored has cost INR 7 lakh 30 thousand for his franchise.

2. Pat Cummins (Salary- 15.5 crores) | INR 1,66,07,142 per wicket

Pat Cummins, the only overseas player and the only bowler in this elite list of most expensive players of IPL 2020. He became the most expensive buy of the IPL 2020 auction when Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for 15.5 crores. Due to his whopping price, he was in news even before he started.

In the first game, he faced a lot of criticism for his expensive price tag following his dismal show. However, the number one ranked Test bowler came back in style as he picked up Jonny Bairstow’s wicket in the second encounter and bowled an economical spell.,

Still, the speedster has just picked up two wickets in his first three outings in this season and because of his expensive salary, every wicket that he has grabbed has costed his franchise more than 1 crore, 66 lakhs. Pat Cummins is expected to deliver more with both bat and ball in the upcoming games but even now the impact this player generates is way above these numbers.

1. Virat Kohli (17 crores) | INR 20,23,809 per run

Virat Kohli, the superstar of the game is the most expensive player in IPL history. Even after not being able to take his team to glory in any of the seasons, he has maintained his price tag. BCCI put a cap of 15 crores on the most expensive player a team wants to retain but RCB went ahead and offered him two crores extra to make it 17 crores and the magnificent brand value of the cricketer has a major role in that.

He wears his heart on his sleeve and his aggressive approach on the field is loved by millions of fans. He is one of the biggest reasons for RCB to have such a loyal fan base even after having a disappointing run in tournament history. However, the run machine of the modern-day cricket, Kohli is having a dismal form in this season.

The RCB skipper has only scored 18 runs in the three games he has played and his form is extremely concerning for his team. Even in the last game against Mumbai, when the whole RCB batting unit looked in fine touch on a batting-friendly track, Kohli didn’t look comfortable in the middle. The Delhi lad is expected to perform better in the upcoming matches considering his reputation, but till then each of his runs is costing more than 20 lakhs to his franchise.