Making the Moolah: 5 highest-paid Indian cricketers of 2020
In the year 2020, the Indian cricket players featured in a lot of exciting international games against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia. Apart from breaking records and entertaining the viewers, cricketers also managed to take back home hefty paychecks. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pays INR 15 lakh to a player for every Test, INR 6 lakh for every ODI and INR 3 lakh for a T20I game. The match fees aren’t included in the annual contract fee that a player gets.
In this article, let’s take a look at the five highest-paid Indian cricketers of 2020:
5. Rishabh Pant
India’s young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is fifth in the list as he played 3 Test matches along with 1 ODI and 2 T20Is this year. Though Pant failed to live up to the expectations and had a lukewarm year with both the bat and the gloves, his total earnings in 2020 came up to INR 57 lakhs.
4. Ajinkya Rahane
India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane managed to claim the 4th spot in this list despite featuring in just 4 Test matches for India. The specialist batsman played two games against New Zealand in February followed by two outings against Australia in December 2020 to earn a decent around INR 60 lakhs.
3. Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja was extremely impressive this year as he impressed with both bat and ball for the Men in Blue. The all-rounder is placed at third spot with an earning of INR 96 Lakh under his belt. Jadeja had featured in 9 ODIs along with 4 T20Is and 2 Tests. The spin all-rounder failed to reach the remarkable mark of 1 crore as he had to warm the bench in the last two T20I matches against Australia after suffering a hamstring injury and concussion.
2. Virat Kohli
The second name in this marquee list is of Indian skipper Virat Kohli who also featured in the most number of matches in 2020 for India. The batsman earned a whopping INR 1.29 crore after participating in 3 Tests, nine ODIs, and 10 T20Is this year. Kohli would have easily earned more but he decided to miss the second Test against Australia to be with his pregnant wife Anushka Sharma. He will also miss the first two Tests of the year 2021.
1. Jasprit Bumrah
The first spot in this list is occupied by India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who leapfrogged the Indian skipper to become the highest-paid Indian player in 2020. The right-arm seamer featured in as many as 21 games for the Men in Blue including 4 Test matches, 9 One Day Internationals and 8 T20 Internationals. Thus, Bumrah earned a staggering amount of INR 1.38 crore in 2020. The bowler is also entitled to a cheque of INR 7 crore by the Indian board as he along with Virat and Rohit Sharma has an A+ annual contract.
