Indian cricketers and their salaries

Indian cricketers and their salaries: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is one of the richest cricket governing bodies in the world. Unlike other national sports federations in India, the BCCI does not rely on the government for finances. The board shows a very big heart when it comes to awarding remuneration and rewards to their players.

Every year after the Annual General Meeting, the list of yearly central contracts is released. These central contracts are categorized as “Grade A,” “Grade B” and “Grade C.” It is graded according to the importance and performances of players. The Grade A contracts offer a salary of Rs. 1 Crore per annum, Grade B offer Rs. 50 lakhs per annum while the Grade C contract is worth Rs. 25 lakhs per annum.

Also, if a player, who is not in the list of contracted players, plays a minimum of three Test/ODI/T20I matches, gets added in Grade ‘C’ or Grade ‘B’ category, respectively. The players in the playing eleven also get paid additional match fees. Apart from the central contracts, Indian players also earn hefty sums from endorsement deals and IPL contracts.

Here is the list of contracted Indian cricketers and their salaries:

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni – 1 Crore:

MS Dhoni currently leads India in the ODI and T20I format after retiring from the Tests earlier this year. MS Dhoni was retained and given the Grade A contract this year as well. He might be in the twilight of his career, but he still has the mass appeal. Dhoni has a fair share of lucrative endorsement deals apart from co-owning sports teams and still is one of the highest earning cricketers.

2. Virat Kohli – 1 Crore:

Virat Kohli is the future of the Indian cricket. He took the challenging job of Test captain from MS Dhoni and has shown a lot of promise. Kohli was awarded the Grade A central contract. Apart from that, Kohli also has high-paying endorsement deals and sponsorships. He has overtaken bigwigs like MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar in terms of earnings from endorsements. Kohli is believed to be handling close to 10 brands and charges up to 3 crores every endorsement. Virat is also the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore team in IPL and is among one of the top paid players.

3. Ravichandran Ashwin – 1 Crore:

The off-spinner from Tamil Nadu is India’s leading spinner across all formats. He has been a top performer for India, especially in Tests. Ashwin has 55 wickets in just 8 Tests he played so far in the year 2015. Ashwin was also retained and awarded a Grade A contract for his outstanding performances for India. Ashwin also endorses few brands and earns a significant amount of money from them.

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