Highest Paid Cricketers in the World: Who Earns the Most?
On this page12
- 01Highest-paid cricketers at a glance
- 02Virat Kohli (India) — about £28.5M / $38M
- 03Pat Cummins (Australia) — about £23.2M
- 04Mitchell Starc (Australia) — about £22.6M
- 05Steve Smith (Australia) — about £21.5M / $29M
- 06David Warner (Australia) — about £20.5M / $27.6M
- 07Rohit Sharma (India) — about £20.2M / $27.2M
- 08How we ranked the highest earners
- 09Why these figures are estimates
- 10The IPL effect: 2025-26
- 11Just outside the top six
- 12Why India sets the ceiling
We rank by total reported 2025 annual earnings — board retainer plus franchise fees plus endorsements — not by any single contract. A record IPL bid lifts a placement, but sustained endorsement income is what separates the very top from the rest.
Highest-paid cricketers at a glance
| Rank | Cricketer | Reported annual earnings | Main income driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virat Kohli | About £28.5M / $38M | Endorsements plus BCCI and IPL pay |
| 2 | Pat Cummins | About £23.2M | IPL fee and Cricket Australia contract |
| 3 | Mitchell Starc | About £22.6M | Franchise contract and endorsements |
| 4 | Steve Smith | About £21.5M / $29M | Board contract and endorsements |
| 5 | David Warner | About £20.5M / $27.6M | Franchise cricket and endorsements |
| 6 | Rohit Sharma | About £20.2M / $27.2M | IPL salary and endorsements |
- Top earner
Virat Kohli (India) — about £28.5M / $38M
Kohli tops the list on total income, and the gap to everyone else is built on endorsements, not match fees. Compilers put his 2025 haul near £28.5 million ($38 million), of which a roughly ₹21 crore Royal Challengers Bengaluru salary and a BCCI retainer are the smaller part; deals with Puma, MRF Tyres, HSBC India, and Myntra carry the rest. He out-earns players who command bigger auction cheques because no other market pays for a face the way India's does.
He ranks above the Australians below despite playing less cricket. Kohli retired from T20 Internationals after India's 2024 World Cup win and from Test cricket in May 2025, then lifted his first IPL title with RCB in June 2025, top-scoring with 43 in the final — a trophy that only sharpened his commercial pull. For where that leaves his lifetime fortune, see the richest cricketers in the world.
Country: India · Status: active (ODIs, IPL) · Top driver: endorsements (Puma, MRF, HSBC India) · Defining feat: highest reported annual earnings in the game
- Overseas leader
Pat Cummins (Australia) — about £23.2M
Cummins is the highest-earning non-Indian at roughly £23 million a year, and he gets there without India's endorsement machine. Australia's Test captain pairs a Cricket Australia contract worth around $2 million with a ₹20.5 crore Sunrisers Hyderabad deal from the 2024 IPL auction, then layers on sponsors such as Nike and Gatorade.
His placement above fellow Australians is a captaincy and consistency premium: leading the Test and one-day sides keeps him the most marketable cricketer in a country whose home advertising market is a fraction of India's. That he still clears £23 million on that base is why he sits second.
Country: Australia · Status: active, Test captain · Top driver: IPL fee + Cricket Australia contract · Defining feat: highest-paid player outside India
- Auction record-holder
Mitchell Starc (Australia) — about £22.6M
Starc's earnings are anchored by the auction room. His ₹24.75 crore signing by Kolkata Knight Riders at the 2024 IPL auction was the most expensive bid in league history at the time — a record since passed at the 2025 mega auction — and that single fee does much of the heavy lifting in his roughly £22.6 million total.
He edges the batters below him because a left-arm quick who wins matches is scarcer at auction than another top-order name. Endorsements with Hublot and Kookaburra, plus his Cricket Australia contract, round out an income that leans on franchise value more than brand deals.
Country: Australia · Status: active · Top driver: IPL auction fee · Defining feat: held the record IPL bid (₹24.75 crore) until 2025
- Marketable veteran
Steve Smith (Australia) — about £21.5M / $29M
Smith's roughly £21.5 million ($29 million) rests on longevity and one of the best batting records of his era rather than a single blockbuster contract. A Cricket Australia deal, recurring IPL interest, and a steady endorsement slate combine into a total that has held up across more than a decade at the top.
He ranks just ahead of David Warner on reported earnings, a margin narrow enough to move with one auction cycle. What separates them is breadth of format value: Smith's Test-match standing keeps national-contract and sponsor income flowing even as T20 franchises chase younger names.
Country: Australia · Status: active · Top driver: Cricket Australia contract + endorsements · Defining feat: elite Test average sustaining long-term brand value
- Franchise circuit earner
David Warner (Australia) — about £20.5M / $27.6M
Warner's income shifted from national contracts to the global T20 circuit as his career wound down, and his roughly £20.5 million ($27.6 million) reflects a player who monetized franchise leagues aggressively. IPL earnings with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals over the years, plus a wide endorsement book in India, keep him inside the top six.
He sits below Smith because his international earning window has narrowed, but ahead of Rohit Sharma on the numbers thanks to years of premium IPL fees. His path shows how a marketable overseas player can bank Indian commercial money without an Indian passport.
Country: Australia · Status: active on franchise circuits · Top driver: IPL fees + India-facing endorsements · Defining feat: leading overseas name in India's ad market
- Indian icon
Rohit Sharma (India) — about £20.2M / $27.2M
Rohit is the only other Indian in the top six, at roughly £20.2 million ($27.2 million), and like Kohli his money skews commercial. As the face of Mumbai Indians he holds a marquee IPL salary, with endorsements from Adidas, Hublot, and CEAT adding a large slice on top.
His earnings held even as his playing role narrowed: he retired from Test cricket in May 2025, handing the captaincy to Shubman Gill, yet continues to earn heavily across the ODI side and the IPL. He ranks sixth rather than higher because his global endorsement pull, while large, trails Kohli's. He also features among the leaders for most IPL runs.
Country: India · Status: active (ODIs, IPL) · Top driver: Mumbai Indians salary + endorsements · Defining feat: only non-Kohli Indian in the top six earners
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- Virat Kohli (India) — about £28.5M / $38M
- Pat Cummins (Australia) — about £23.2M
- Mitchell Starc (Australia) — about £22.6M
- Steve Smith (Australia) — about £21.5M / $29M
- David Warner (Australia) — about £20.5M / $27.6M
- Rohit Sharma (India) — about £20.2M / $27.2M
Audience ranking
How everyone ranked them
Built from reader rankings using position-based points.
The ranked cards above cover the six highest-earning cricketers and why each lands where they do. The sections below explain how we built the order, why the figures are approximate, and how names just outside the top six — Dhoni, Stokes, Babar — still earn heavily.
How we ranked the highest earners
We rank by total reported 2025 annual earnings, combining three income streams into one figure:
- National board contract. The base salary. It matters least for the top earners — a Test fee is a rounding error next to a boot deal.
- Franchise fees. IPL retentions and auction bids are the biggest single line for most non-Indian players; a marquee bid can be worth several years of a board retainer.
- Endorsements. The deciding factor at the very top, and almost entirely an Indian advantage. This is why Kohli leads despite smaller auction cheques than some rivals.
Where two players sit within a million or so — Smith, Warner, and Rohit all cluster near £20-21.5M — treat them as a tier rather than a precise order. For the separate question of accumulated wealth, see the richest cricketers in the world; for on-field ranking, the greatest batsmen.
Why these figures are estimates
No cricketer publishes audited earnings. Compilers add known salaries and endorsement deals, estimate the undisclosed portion, and convert between currencies, so the same player appears with different totals across sites. The numbers here are rounded ranges pinned to 2025 reporting, and they move with every IPL auction and endorsement renewal. Read the order as tiers, not decimal-place accuracy.
The IPL effect: 2025-26
The IPL is the single largest driver of cricketer wealth, and the 2025 mega auction proved it. Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in league history when Lucknow Super Giants signed him for ₹27 crore, just ahead of Shreyas Iyer at ₹26.75 crore to Punjab Kings — both topping Mitchell Starc’s previous ₹24.75 crore record. A single auction result can outweigh years of board pay, and strong IPL form is the credential other T20 leagues pay a premium to sign. It is also why the IPL dwarfs rival competitions on player fees.
Just outside the top six
Several high-profile names earn well without cracking the top-six earnings tier:
| Player | Country | Main income drivers |
|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | India | CSK fee, long-run endorsements (Dhoni retired from India in 2020) |
| Ben Stokes | England | ECB central contract, The Hundred, IPL interest |
| Babar Azam | Pakistan | PCB contract, PSL and SA20 demand; no IPL access |
Dhoni’s brand value in India has barely dimmed despite semi-retirement, keeping him a fixture on earnings lists. Stokes benefits from England’s captaincy profile and the growth of The Hundred as a new revenue stream. Babar is Pakistan’s most commercially valuable cricketer, but his ceiling is capped by the IPL’s exclusion of Pakistani players.
Why India sets the ceiling
Two of the top six are Indian, yet India’s fingerprints are on the whole list. Kohli leads outright on endorsements, and the auction fees that carry the Australians are paid by Indian franchises. A cricket-obsessed population above a billion creates an advertising market no other cricket nation approaches, so India’s biggest names top the global table even as Australia dominates the tier just below. For a modern cricketer, where you play and who you sponsor now decides earnings as much as how you perform.
Frequently asked questions
Why do Australians fill the top six but no Australian is number one?+
Australia's stars — Cummins, Starc, Smith, Warner — earn heavily from Cricket Australia contracts and premium IPL fees, which pushes four of them into the top six. What they lack is India's endorsement scale. Kohli's commercial income alone dwarfs a full Australian salary, so even the best-paid overseas player, Cummins, lands well behind him. Playing income is competitive; the endorsement gap is what decides the number-one spot.
Is Rishabh Pant the highest-paid cricketer since he set the IPL record?+
No. Pant's ₹27 crore signing by Lucknow Super Giants at the 2025 mega auction is the largest single IPL bid ever, but that is a one-season franchise fee, not annual total earnings. On full-year income — salary plus franchise fees plus endorsements — Kohli still leads by a wide margin. A record auction price boosts a player's year but rarely outranks a decade of endorsement deals.
How much of a top cricketer's income is endorsements versus salary?+
It depends entirely on nationality. For leading Indian players like Kohli, endorsements are the clear majority of total earnings, often several times their board retainer and IPL salary combined. For Australians such as Starc, the balance flips: franchise fees and the national contract do most of the work, with sponsorships a smaller top-up. The endorsement multiplier is largely an Indian-market phenomenon.
Do these earnings figures include net worth or just yearly income?+
They are annual income estimates — one year of salary, franchise fees, and endorsements — not accumulated wealth. A player's net worth folds in career savings, business equity, and property, which can rank cricketers very differently. Retired names like Tendulkar top net-worth lists while earning no salary, whereas active earners like Kohli lead the annual table. The two rankings answer different questions.
Why don't Pakistani stars appear among the highest earners?+
The single biggest reason is the absence of Pakistani players from the IPL, which has been the case since 2008. The IPL is where overseas players bank their largest fees, and being locked out of it caps a Pakistani cricketer's ceiling no matter how good they are. A smaller home advertising market compounds the gap, so even Babar Azam, the country's most valuable name, trails the top six.
Do retired cricketers still earn enough to make these lists?+
Some come close through franchise cricket and endorsements rather than international pay. MS Dhoni, retired from India since 2020, still commands a high Chennai Super Kings fee and keeps strong brand value, while others earn from coaching and commentary. But sustained top-six annual income generally requires active, marketable playing careers plus live endorsement deals, which is why current internationals dominate the earnings table.
Sources
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