Top 10 International Teams and their Highest-Paid Cricketers

Over the years the game has evolved in various aspects and one of them is the change in the salary structure of different cricket authorities. The professionalism of the sport has reached a new level. Now with the advent of T20 leagues, it has become necessary that the stars are provided with a proper share of the profit earned by the cricket boards in order to maintain harmony. Since the last decade, most of the players earn a lot of money from the commercial world. Among them, the established ones get lucrative deals but the newbies are solely dependent on the central contracts. There are various websites that publish these data and Sports eon and Sports maza are a couple of them from where the references are taken for this article. Here is the list of 10 international teams and their highest-paid player: 1) Rashid Khan – Afghanistan (INR 73 lakhs) Rashid Khan (Photo Source: Twitter) Afghanistan has grown leaps and bounds in terms of quality of cricket played over the years. And the one man who has contributed immensely in their rise is leg-spinner Rashid Khan. The Afghan bowler has been a pillar of their bowling unit. On the back of his impressive performances, he has led Afghanistan to victories single-handedly on countless occassions. Recently, he was also handed over the leadership duties by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) after Asghar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi gave up their captaincies, respectively. As the skipper, he is the highest paid cricketer by the ACB. With a hike in salaries by the ACB, the spin maestro draws an annual salary of INR 73 lakh. 2) Shakib Al Hasan – Bangladesh (INR 74 lakh) Shakib Al Hasan. (Photo Source: Instagram) Shakib Al Hasan is probably one name that defines Bangladesh cricket team for almost past two decades now. The star all-rounder made his international debut in 2006 against Zimbabwe. Ever since then, Shakib has bagged several records to his name, and is currently the highest ranked all-rounder in the world. Shakib draws an annual salary of approximately INR 74 lakh from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). However, he is not the only name to feature in the list of highest paid cricketers in his national team. Senior opener Tamim Iqbal and keeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim also draw similar salaries while representing Bangladesh. Being the leaders of the side in different formats, Tamim and Shakib also receive an additional bonus of 2,000 Bangladeshi Taka. 3) Wanindu Hasaranga – Sri Lanka (INR 82 lakh) Wanindu Hasaranga. (Photo Source: Albert Perez-ICC/ICC via Getty Images) Sri Lanka, once known for its dominance, is currently in a state of recovery. The team, which once had the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga is now searching for someone who can take their cricket to newer heights. Dhananjaya de Silva, the Colombo-born all-rounder, is currently the hope for Sri Lankan cricket team. As per the revised central contracts of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the star all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga has a base salary of INR 82 lakh approximately. Hasaranga has bagged an A1 contract from the SLC. Speaking of his performances, he has been the most successful performer for The Lankan Lions in the past one year or so. Alongside him, Dushmantha Chameera also holds an A1 contract, and his salary is similar to Hasaranga. 4) Babar Azam – Pakistan (Rs 1.32 crore) Babar Azam. (Photo by Arif ALI / AFP) (Photo by ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images) In recent times, the Pakistan team has played unconvincingly, but they always surprise their fans with an odd superlative effort. Babar Azam has undoubtedly been the star for Pakistan cricket team in the last few years. Ever since making his debut in 2015, he represents Pakistan across all formats and has had superb performances with the bat. Currently, he is also the skipper of the national side after Mohammad Rizwan and Sarfaraz Ahmed were sidelined from captaincy roles due to a number of reasons. As of 2023, Babar draws a handsome salary and truly justifies his worth as averages 40-plus across all formats of the game. The top-order batsman is the highest paid cricketer of the country with List A contract, and he bags an amount of 11 lakhs per month, which constitutes 1.32 crore per annum. 5) Jason Holder – West Indies (Rs 2.80 crores) Jason Holder. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images) Jason Holder has been the most prolific all-rounder for the West Indies in the recent times. He represents the West Indies in more than one format, and thus, as per Cricket West Indies' (CWI) mandates, he gets a salary close to INR 2.8 crore per annum. Players like Nicholas Pooran and Shai Hope also draw salaries similar to Holder since they represent the side in multiple formats. Notably, marquee players like Sunil Narine and Andre Russell do not represent the West Indies in the majority of the bilateral series, and hence, they are not part of the central contract of the CWI. Reportedly, these players have also had issues with the board for less annual pay. 6) Quinton de Kock – South Africa (Rs 3 crore) Quinton de Kock. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images) Ever since the untimed retirement of Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock has ably taken over the responsibilities as the South African skipper. The stumper-batter has an excellent record across formats. He is also one of the very few players to have centuries across all formats of the game. Currently, the CSA (Cricket South Africa) has been suffering from huge losses but still, the players are getting good pay cheques and de Kock is one of them. He takes away roughly Rs 3 crores annually from CSA. However, Temba Bavuma, David Miller, and Kagiso Rabada also play for South Africa across formats and are eligible for similar salaries as a part of their central contracts. 7) Kane Williamson – New Zealand (Rs 3.61 crores) Kane Williamson. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images) In this era of slam-bang cricket, Kane Williamson is one of the few batters who have thrived on textbook cricket shots. Under his able leadership, New Zealand were runners-up in the ODI World Cup 2019 and later emerged victorious in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC), which was held in 2021 against India. The New Zealand cricketers have always received decent pay and right now, Williamson is the biggest beneficiary. Williamson gets a pay of INR 3.61 crores per year to represent New Zealand. Senior pacer Tim Southee and keeper-batter Tom Latham also get paid equally. Earlier, ace pacer Trent Boult was also a part of the New Zealand Cricket's central contract, but since he has given up on his contract, he is only eligible to receive match fees, which varies as per formats. 8) Virat Kohli – India (Rs 7 crores) Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Pramod Thakur/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) The Indian team has always produced batting stalwarts and in this decade, the baton is held by Virat Kohli. He is the most successful ODI skipper of the nation with a win rate of 76%. In recent times, the superstar has been one of the dominating forces in the world cricket and his records speak for himself. One can say, Kohli is the ambassador of the modern game. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the richest cricket board in the world and has invariably given pots of money to their players. At present, the Indian stars are categorized into 4 groups. The board has decided to introduce a higher pay scale for the players who have been plying their trade consistently in all 3 formats. Kohli is the name that is on top of that list and with an A+ contract, he bags 7 crores annually. Skipper Rohit Sharma, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and left-handed all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also have A+ contracts to their names, and they also get INR 7 crore annually from the BCCI. 9) Joe Root – England (INR 7.51 crores) England&#8217;s Joe Root celebrates reaching his 50. (Photo credit OLLY GREENWOOD/AFP/Getty Images) The player in the list with the highest salary is Joe Root. Regarded as one of the greatest players for England of the modern era, Root has been phenomenal with his bat for The Three Lions. As of June 2023, he has 46 centuries to his name in international cricket, and has amassed over 18,000 runs across formats. England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the governing body for England Cricket Team, pays heavily to its top-tier players. Root is in the list with the highest salary not only for England, but also across the world. He is paid a whopping salary of approximately INR 7.51 crores per year by the ECB. Test skipper Ben Stokes also has a similar base salary, but since he retired from white-ball cricket, Root gets the highest share of pay from the ECB. 10) Pat Cummins – Australia (INR 11.18 crores) Pat Cummins (Photo Source: Twitter) Seldom do we see a fast bowler being a captain of the side. Pat Cummins is probably the only name that comes to mind when one thinks about it. The star pacer holds a strong significance in the Australian cricket team. After Steven Smith and Tim Paine, Cummins was given the responsibility to captain the side, and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Under his leadership, Australia won the WTC Final, 2023 at The Oval, London beating India by a good margin. Apart from this, Cummins' captaincy speaks for itself, as Australia had the highest win percentage in the WTC 2021-23 cycle. Identifying his potential, Cricket Australia (CA) pays the seamer a sum of US$ 2mn annually, which amounts to a mind-boggling INR 11.18 crores a year. *Disclaimer: The figures have been taken from several websites and the actual numbers may vary.

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Top 10 International Teams and their Highest-Paid Cricketers

Most of these players are the captain and the best player of their respective teams.

7) Kane Williamson – New Zealand (Rs 3.61 crores)

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