What next for Brand Virat Kohli?
His market value never depended on captaincy but Kohli may have to find form again to stay on top
MUMBAI: Since that dramatic evening in Melbourne after the Boxing Day Test match of 2014 when MS Dhoni announced he wouldn’t play Tests anymore, Virat Kohli’s on-field performance soared and so did his brand. Up until 2020. Over the past 12 months, Kohli’s all-format consistency took a hit, his workload became a burden and he is now on his last legs as a T20 captain—both for country and his IPL franchise.
In the brand market of Indian cricket all this while, it’s been Kohli followed by daylight. Opinions remain divided on whether the change in Kohli’s designation will have a negative impact on his brand.
History however suggests there have been both—nosediving stocks after losing captaincy, as well as a reinvention of brand value. Sachin Tendulkar had two unsuccessful stints as captain but his batting took over and his brand value remained unaffected. Sourav Ganguly’s brand revolved around his captaincy and once that was taken away, it took a beating. MS Dhoni, by choosing one format over the other ahead of time was able to send the right message to advertisers. At 32, has Kohli managed to do the same?
“I don’t think so,” says brand guru Shailendra Singh, who handled Ganguly in his prime. “The way it works in the business of cricket is that the bowlers are the most neglected people. All-rounders keep searching for their positioning and money. Batters have it all. But the captain kills it.”
Kohli wants to retain India’s ODI captaincy. Other than a burning desire to correct two failed attempts at winning an ICC ODI trophy, market forces play an equal part in driving these decisions. A home ODI World Cup is scheduled in 2023, and being India’s cricket captain
in a mega event has many other perks. “Captainship raises your brand 3-4 times,” says Singh. “The benefits of commercial earnings go beyond endorsements. The captain is everywhere, he leads the team at every event, be it meeting dignitaries, company CEOS, politicians. Even when a bowler picks up a wicket, the camera pans on the captain. Packaging is very important.”
Brand Kohli
Cricket is still very much a subcontinental and Commonwealth sport, but Kohli became the only cricketer to find a space in the top 100 highest-paid athletes
list of Forbes in 2020. According to the magazine’s estimates, his annual net worth from endorsements at the time was $24 million (approximately ₹178 crore now). He remains the most followed cricketer on Instagram with 156 million followers and counting, and charges an estimated ₹2-5 crore per promotional post. His annual IPL contract is worth ₹17 crore, while he earns ₹7 crore from his BCCI contract every year.
Mega endorsement deals and sponsorships revolve around a player’s “visibility”. With Kohli committed to playing all formats, some believe captainship or not, he will sail through
troubled waters. “As long as he keeps scoring runs, it won’t matter,” says a player agent handling many current India cricketers. “Also remember, in the public eye, he has stepped down, not lost his captainship.”
After becoming captain, two of the biggest deals he signed were in 2017 with Puma and MRF. Both were long-term deals (8-years) worth over ₹100 crore each. What Kohli will require is to stay on the park in all formats and deliver. “Virat the brand is far more mature now. I don’t think it needs the prop of captaincy,” says Harish Krishnamachar, who managed Tendulkar’s account. “Captainship might have helped Virat in his early days. And I am sure people managing him would have used it as an extra selling point. It gave him a leg-up back then because he wasn’t sufficiently differentiated, with Dhoni still around.”
Performance contracts
Most player managers admit lucrative long-term deals are loaded with performance clauses. They also agree that captaincy can’t be built as a clause, but form can. “Every deal has different semantics,” says another player manager. “It does matter that you remain in the playing eleven. There are bonuses that come with milestones like a century and a halfcentury.” But from the standpoint of optics, a captain benefits because the camera is always on him. It’s about screen time. He is the one who attends more press conferences than anyone else in the side. “Your visibility increases hundredfold. It’s top of the mind,” the manager adds.
Other than the financial aspect, an India captain has always wielded influence beyond game-time strategy. Younger players queueing up to join the captain’s management firm has been commonplace.
In 2013, Rhiti Sports, which managed many Indian cricketers including MS Dhoni, declared Dhoni was a shareholder in the firm while being India captain. He later gave up his stake in the company. Last year, a conflict-of-interest complaint that reached the BCCI ethics officer’s door claimed Kohli was a co-director with the same people who held senior positions in the firm that managed his and other Indian cricketer’s commercial interests.
But any of this could not stall Kohli’s march to become India’s most successful Test captain. “The values that Virat has built around his brand in terms of his commitment, energy, reactions and fitness are not going to go away,” says Krishnamachar. “Also, I haven’t seen any of the brands use him in the so-called leadership space. They have used him for who he is.”
Now that he won’t be captain in some time, it may all hinge on Kohli’s batting again. “What he now has to get used to is to become a batter again from being a captain. That can be hard for a personality like his,” says Singh. “Being a captain from a batter is a lot more organic. It’s growth.”
Rohit Sharma has been the No.2 brand behind Kohli. Apart from being the captain-in-waiting in white-ball cricket, he has also found a second wind to his Test career as an opener. With rumoured rift, brokered peace, an edgy relationship and a healthy rivalry that exists between the two batting stars, the next hand over of Indian captainship will be closely watched not just by the BCCI, but also the market forces.