Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
A top Indian cricketer with an A+ BCCI contract makes ₹7 crore—before facing a single ball. That’s 20x what an entry-level IT worker earns in a year—and it’s just the base salary.
Play one Test match, take home ₹15 lakh. That’s nearly half a year's pay for a corporate middle manager—earned in five days of cricket.
Rishabh Pant makes ₹27 crore in a two-month IPL season. That’s 7,000 times India’s median monthly salary. For context, a lifetime of salaried work may not match one season on the bench.
Non-playing squad members earn 50% of match fees—₹7.5 lakh per Test. That’s right: warming up nets you more than a top-tier MBA’s yearly package.
Kohli makes more from brand deals (₹100+ crore/year) than from cricket. No boardroom job, no C-suite gig comes close—not even Ambani’s VPs.
Even the lowest-tier BCCI contract (Grade C) pays ₹1 crore—more than most Indians will see in a decade of work. And that’s before a single endorsement or league game.
Hardik Pandya’s net worth is ₹91 crore. Sanju Samson’s is ₹82 crore. These are not anomalies—they’re standard for anyone who cracks the national squad and a few IPL seasons.
The average white-collar job in India pays ₹7–9.5 lakh/year. Even high-paid roles like product management or investment banking cap around ₹14 lakh/year—a pittance in cricketing terms.
Women cricketers now earn equal match fees, but contracts and sponsorships still lag. The pay equity shift is real—but the big brand money is yet to follow.