Ranking top 7 overseas countries according to the money their cricketers earned from IPL

4. Sri Lanka – INR 191.43 Crores

The Emerald Islanders’ IPL journey has been one of a steep decline in quality. Once heralded as a top white-ball talent-pool; Sri Lanka have now slipped to a point, where, barring a select-few fringe international names, none of their other players even merit a place on the auction list.

The Lankans’ IPL journey started strong, with the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayewardene, and Sanath Jayasurya being top-priced names in the inaugural edition. The trend continued for a few more seasons till 2014, when a number of prominent Lankan stars were deemed too old to play and weren’t purchased in the auctions.

And the ones who were available weren’t impressive enough. Angelo Matthews and Thisara Perera come to mind as two players whose IPL performances really conflicted with their stellar, international repertoire.

As the IPL’s all-time leading wicket-taker, Lasith Malinga has clearly been the most prominent Lankan performer. He (INR 2 Crores) and Isuru Udana (INR 50 Lakhs) are currently the only contracted Sri Lanka players in the tournament. Besides them, Mahela, too, contributes to the Lankan-IPL funds, albeit in a non-playing capacity as the Mumbai Indians’ head coach.