Indian test captain Virat Kohli remain the highest paid player in Indian Premier League after he was retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the upcoming 2017 IPL Season. He was one of the few retained cricketers who gained in their salary. Kohli’s disclosed salary is Rs 15 crore ($2.26 million) making him the highest paid player in IPL.
Virat Kohli becomes highest paid player in IPL with his new Rs 15 crore ($2.26 million) a year salary with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Virat Kohli’s new contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore has helped him eclipse Mahinder Singh Dhoni as the highest paid cricket in the world. Dhoni held the top spot in terms of highest yearly income for best part of last 9 years largely becuase his highly lucrative domestic endorsement deals. Below is the list of top 10 highest paid cricketers around the world.
Cricket just like other major sports is evolving big time, with the introduction of Twenty20 format not only the interest has spread in different regions but it also bring in alot of money for top cricket boards. Twenty20 has revolutionized cricket in India in last 10 years. India’s yearly domestic T20 Premier League is one of the most lucrative sport leagues around the world and teams from IPL are spending big money to bring in talented players to boast their squads. Here is the list of Top 10 most expensive IPL buys since 2008. Today we take a look at some of the richest cricketers overall and active highest paid players in the world.
When we talk about cricket richlist, Indian captain Mahinder Singh Dhoni was the only cricket in history to have made it in the Forbes Top 30 highest paid athlete list back in 2012 to 2014. When India won the 2011 world cup MS Dhoni was placed on no.23 in Forbes athlete richlist with yearly income of around $28 million making him by far the richest player in cricket. Most of his money comes in from domestic sponsorship deals around $23 million a year while his yearly contract with BCCI (indian cricket board) earns him around $3.5 million a year plus his IPL contract earning him further $2 million a year. However Virat Kohli has overtaken him not only on the field activities but also off the field with some lucrative endorsement deals which take Kohli’s yearly income around $30 million a year.
| NO# | PLAYER | SALARIES | ENDORSEMENTS | YEARLY INCOME |
| 1 | Virat Kohli | $6.9m (IPL & BCCI Central Contract) | $20m | $26.9m |
| 2 | MS Dhoni | $5.7m (IPL & BCCI Central Contract) | $14m | $19.7m |
| 3 | Chris Gayle | $4.5m (Various T20 leagues) | $3m | $7.5m |
| 4 | AB De Villiers | $4.5m (IPL & South African central contract) | $2m | $5.5m |
| 5 | David Warner | $3.5m (Australia central contract & other T20 leagues) | $2m | $5.5m |
| 6 | Mitchel Starc | $3.5m (Australia central contract & IPL deal) | $500,000 | $4m |
| 7 | Virender Sehwag | $1.8m (IPL Contract) | $2m | $3.8m |
| 8 | Yuvraj Singh | $1.8m (IPL Contract) | $2m | $3.8m |
| 9 | Gautam Ghambir | $1.5m (IPL Conctract) | $1m | $2.5m |
| 10 | Steven Smith | $2m (Australia central contract, captain bonus & IPL deal) | $500,000 | $2.5m |
CRICKET RICH LIST 2016:
As far as the over all richlist is concerned, Indian players dominate the list as well with Sachin Tendulkar leading the way with his reportedly $115 million networth over 20 year international career. The figures are derived from Forbes, Sundaytimes Uk richlist and it reflect how much a players net worth.
Sachin Tendulkar – $115 million
- yearly income: $18.6 million
- Endorsement Deals: $16.6 million a year (Adidas, Coca-Cola, Castrol many more indian brands)
Tendulkar played international cricket for more than 20 years and he was adored by Indian fans and widely regarded as the greatest cricketer of this century. Sachin Tendulkar signed huge list of sponsorship and endorsement deals with both local and international brands. Even after his retirement he is one of the most marketable cricketer in the world, according to Forbes his current networth is around $115 million making him by far the richest cricket past or present.
MS Dhoni – $85 million
- yearly income: $29 million
- Professional contracts (BCCI & IPL) – $6 million a year
- Endorsement deals: $23 million a year (Reebok, PepsiCo, Sony, countless domestic deals)
Current Indian captain MS Dhoni is the only cricketer to have featured in the top 10 highest paid athlete list in 2012 and his stock has been increasing steadily over the past few years. He has one of the most expensive contract in IPL and MS brand has countless endorsement deals with local india companies as well as foreign.
Virendar Sehwag – $40 million
- Networth: $40 million
Sehwag’s international career is pretty much over but he is still a force in Indian Premier League, in his peak with Indian team he was one of the most sort out cricketer in India and made his wealth through massive endorsement deals.
Sourav Ganguly – $40 Million
- Net Worth: $40 million
Former Indian captain played his career alongside Sachin Tendulkar and than the next generation players like Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni etc. Now a days he is a commentator and cricket expert and mentor with IPL team.
Ricky Ponting – $30 Million
Ricky Ponting won the cricket world cup twice as Australia captain and he is one of the most high profile athlete from Australia. His total networth is believed to be around $30million and he is currently working with IPL teams as a coach and mentor.
Yuvraj Singh – $25 million
Yuvraj Singh was broken the record of most expensive player in IPL three times and he was player of the tournament when Indian won the 2011 world cup and 2007 T20 world cup.
where is shahid afridi and wasim akram? shahid net worth is more than 50 million with salary of 3.5m monthly and you did not include wasim akram
Article is talking about salary in US dollars NOT in Pakistani Rupee…
LoL. You rightly pointed out.
I think u didn’t read the article properly. He is one of highest paid active cricketer.
Check List please. At the end of his career and still in top 10 paid cricketers, Doesn’t it mean he should be cricketer with one of highest net worth. He is playing cricket since Dhoni n Kohli were not in existence of cricket and he was always one of the popular cricketer.
And lastly, yaa its salary in USD, not in Indian Rupee too 🙂
Their net worth is in USD .
But pakistan cricket Bord is not able to pay salary of players and BCCI is richest cricket board in the world
Shahid afridi’s net worth is 30m USD .
Google it.!
But the fact still remains the same, Shahid Afridi is not even remotely close to making the cut either as active or retired player so far as his net worth is concerned, whether the currency is USD, PKR or INR. And again the top 10 cricketer’s list you are referring to must be a list compiled locally. Lol. This list on the other hand has players from all around the world. Perhaps you have been high on some substance before reading this article and at the time of writing the comment. Wake up and smell the coffee, reading the article again might also help. LOL
sate kain ho?
Yes he should read the article properly
If you are great at cricket, wouldn’t it make sense to try baseball? Slightly above average baseball players are making 20m+ a year before any endorsements. The elite players way more than that. Bryce Harper is going to receive a 10 year / 450million dollar contract in two years.
What are u talking about, currently the highest paid baseballer gets paid 32million dollars
dhoni is best player in the world
i guess your left nut is dhoni
dhoni maximum 6 recored in india
my dream is to be a cricketer.
Hi guys Cricket is worse game and Soccer is best because If u add the yearly salary of highest paid cricketers then it will be 81.7 million dollars and alone cristiano ronaldo yearly salary is 93 million dollars and soccer is also most popular sport in the world it also richest sports franchises and richest and popular sports players and do u know that highest attendance in a cricket match is around 85,000 and highest attendence in an soccer match is 2 lakhs and avg. Attendence in cricket it is 30,000 and in an soccer match avg. Attendence is 75,000 Cricket worse ,best soccer or football
Success or achievement cannot be defined just by how much the sportsman has earned, its also important what the sportsman has given to the sports and the society.