How Do Cricket Player Earnings Compare With Elite Sports In Other Countries?
Without a doubt, cricket is the number one sport in India and it probably can boast that it is the most prestigious nation for cricket in the world.
The rise of cricket in the country has led to the establishment of the highly popular T20 as well, which has become notable, attracting the top players from around the world, in addition to considerable television coverage, which in turn has brought in substantial revenue from sponsorship.
Indeed, the IPL (Indian Premier League), is also understood to be one of the most followed cricket competitions in the world as well – again, having attracted some of the best players in the sport – especially in recent years.
As such, it has also helped to grow the profile of not only the Indian game nationally, but also some of the teams, including the Chennai Super Kings franchise – only established in 2008, though which has become one of the most consistent teams in India, only finishing below fourth place on three occaions.
While Indian cricket salaries are still not as big as in other sports, these are still considered to be remarkable and they are some of the richest people in the country.
Big Migration Of Global Stars To The IPL
Indian cricket salaries have undoubtedly been one of the major draws for many global cricket stars – especially English. As such, the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes (all Punjab Kings), plus Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals) as well as Moeen Ali (Super Kings and Australian David Warner (Delhi Capitals), in addition to South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw (Punjab Kings) have all been convinced to move to the country in recent years.
This adds to a crop of top native stars that include Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengalaru) and MS Dhoni (Super Kings).
Some of the highest paid cricketers annually in the country are, Rishabh Pant (£3.04 million) who plays for Lucknow Super Giants, (Virat) Kohli (£1.41 million – though, £16 million with endorsements), Australia’s Pat Cummins (£550,00, though £2.1 million with endorsements).
In terms of English players, there is Jofra Archer (£1.2 million plus another £300,000 with sponsorship), (Joss) Buttler (£940,000 – £1.5 million with sponsorship), Ben Stokes (£1.53 million – £2 million overall) and Joe Root (£1 million in total).
The profile of Indian cricket is certainly on the rise and this was only exacerbated after the T20 World Cup was held in the US for the first time ever last year and if cricket catches on in the US and the country adopts it, like it did with soccer (MLS), it could mean we see a significant hike in salaries for the sport.
While the NBA and NFL still lead the way in the US for salaries, with 10s of millions being earned individually each year by the top players/athletes, the current cricket salaries (especially in India) are still very respectable and highlights just how much the sport in the country has grown (certainly commercially), over the last 20 years or so).