JUST IN: Virat Kohli retained for a record fee of Rs 17 Crore by RCB

Virat Kohli has broken the IPL record for the highest paid player, earning a Rs 17 crore package from RCB and breaking Yuvraj Singh’s Rs 16 crore record when he was bought by Delhi Daredevils in 2015.

RCB sprung a huge surprise in their player retentions, leaving out Yuzvendra Chahal and retaining the uncapped Sarfaraz Khan instead.

While it seems like a strategic decision from the RCB management, as Sarfaraz costed the franchise only a Rs 3 crore deduction, Yuzvendra Chahal could go for a figure in excess of Rs 7 crore in the auction.

Other notable omissions for various franchises have been Ajinkya Rahane, Kuldeep Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan and Manish Pandey, all of whom are India’s T20 set up as of now.

CSK and RR had different retention strategies, with CSK retaining their core in MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, whereas RR opting to retain only Ajinkya Rahane.

Kings XI also had a surprising retention strategy, retaining only Axar Patel and deciding to go with a clean slate for the auction.

Mumbai Indians have also retained with their core in Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.

More to follow..