People are always curious about the lifestyle and the earnings of cricketers, everyone wants to know how much their favorite players get to play and how he is living such lavish life? Come on, let’s peep into our cricketer’s salary then!
Well, there are many things which factored a total earning of a player, contract salary, commercial rights, share from the gross revenue of the board and much more.
Today, we will talk about it but exclude the T20 leagues and domestic endorsements as that depends on the popularity of the player and we will solely consider only International events and the income from them.
There is a financial hierarchy in the cricket boards as well; Australia, England, and India are the elite class where South Africa falls under higher middle class. Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand are the middle class and finally a working-class dyad, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe.
When we take a dig on how much a player earns from their national boards, Australia tops the list.
Australian captain Steve Smith makes US$ 1.49 million this year whereas the lowest in the list is Zimbabwean players, they earn around US$86000 only. England’s captain Joe Root earns US$ 1.37 million dollars this year and he becomes the 2nd in the list after Smith. There is also a reason behind Australian and English players leading earnings as they receive a share from the commercial Rights from the boards.
BCCI does not pay any commercial rights shares to players but they do pay 26% of its gross revenue every year to its players; half of that is paid to the International players. That’s how Virat Kohli earns US$ 1 million from the board. Some of the Boards like BCCI and PCB are on a clear funda, play well to earn more.
There are still many twists behind Indian “A” grade player’s earnings. If Australian and English players get nearly 3-4 times match fees than India then Indian players are getting the fair share of gross income. Also, do not get fooled by the contract amounts and the richness of cricketers. If Virat Kohli and co. starts adding their IPL contracts and their personal endorsements makings in this, they are probably the richest cricketers in the world.
On the other hand, Pakistani players are bit unfortunate when it comes to their earnings from the contracts. Champions’ trophy winner team’s top contract holder will earn US$ 74k, which is still less than an Ireland top contract holder. Surprisingly, Ireland Cricketer will earn more than Bangladesh and Zimbabwean players as well (sometimes, board matters more than your game). But someone like Sarfraz Khan who plays all three formats will end up making more money for sure.
There is also one important reason behind fewer contracts salary from India and Pakistan than England and Australia is a pool of players. India and Pakistan, because of their constructive domestic structure and huge population inclined towards this sport, the boards need to take care of more players than any other boards in the world.
India has 32 cricketers in the pool and Pakistan has 35. Whereas Australia has 20 and England has 18 only; that is the vast difference! But this gives more stability to the bench strength of these two boards, especially India; you will observe great options for each cricketer.
Sri Lanka also has only 17 players in the top contract but interestingly, they also have a group of 30 which gets paid by their board.
Here are the captains ranked according to the income they get through contracts and match fees:
In India, “Guru” is the most dignified and valued position in any sports and BCCI is hailing this position with the same respected rewards. India’s head coach Ravi Shastri earns US$ 1.17 million a year which is twice than the Australian coach Darren Lehmann who takes US$ 0.55 M and is on the second in the list. Apparently, Ravi Shastri is the highest paid cricket coach, and he earns more than Indian skipper Virat Kohli (earnings only from the board). Whereas South African board pays only US$ 0.09 M to their coach Russel Domingo, least in top 8 teams.
India pays more than any board for playing a Test Cricket; the oldest and the toughest format is been well respected by the BCCI whereas Australia pays almost US$ 7-8K less than India for a test match. England pays a good amount for this format but still less than BCCI.
In conclusion to this, if you gather all the things around these mighty salaries with effectivity in results, BCCI stands tall here. Indian board takes care of more players, top players are paid well, the coach is well respected with the reward and with the richest cricket league; they become a more stable side and ensures the safe future for the cricket and cricketers in the country.
