IPL 2020 Auction Live – 14 Days To Go: Highest earners in Moneyball

The Indian Premier League franchisees will meet in Kolkata on December 19 to give final shape and tie loose ends for their respective squads for the 13th season of cricket world’s richest competition.

The IPL auction every year creates many new millionaires of the cricket world, but there are at least three players who have earned over ₹ 100 crore by playing the IPL alone and several others are on the edge of achieving the milestone of riches.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli remain the highest earners in the history of the Indian Premier league in the first to third positions respectively.

InsideSport.co brings to its readers top ten aggregate earners as per the professional sports league’s salary calculator platform Moneyball.

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Number 10 – Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa, released by Kolkata Knight Riders, is the only player on the IPL Moneyball earners top 10 list to go under the hammer at the IPL 2020 auction on December 19 in Kolkata. After his early stints with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Pune Warriors India, the seasoned pro had become an important part of Kolkata Knight Riders for the last six seasons of IPL. He was an important part of the winning KKR team in 2014. He has been one of the able wicket-keepers in the league with third most dismissals over the past 12 seasons.  Also, with earning third-most among keeper-batsman, Robin Uthappa features at number 10 of our Moneyball Salary Calculator.

Uthappa with career ₹72,27,67,000 career earnings from the IPL salaries is the 10^th highest aggregator from cricket’s richest professional league.

Number 9 – Shane Watson 

Former Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson has played with Rajasthan Royals for more than half of his IPL career and is one of the surprising names who got retained for yet another season of the league. Having won two IPL titles with Rajasthan and Chennai, Watson has been a definite feature in the IPL.  Most Valuable Player in the inaugural season with Rajasthan Royals and Player of the match in the finals of 2018 with CSK, Watson is placed well at number 9 in our Moneyball Salary Calculator with ₹ 771,348,250 career earnings.

Number 8 – Sunil Narine 

The swashbuckling all-rounder from Trinidad who has played for a single franchisee since his debut in IPL in 2012 has even won the Kolkata Knight Riders two titles in 2012 and 2014. The most valuable player in his debut season, Narine has been a consistent player in the IPL. His graph in terms of year on year salary has never decreased and currently the highest-paid player in KKR, Narine features at number 8 in the Moneyball Salary Calculator.

Narine till date has drawn ₹ 82,74,78,000 in salaries for his eight seasons with KKR.

Number 7 – Yuvraj Singh

Even after announcing retirement from all forms of cricket and getting released by Mumbai Indians, the 2007 and 2011 player of the two world cups, Yuvraj Singh still features at No 7 in our Moneyball Salary Calculator. Having played for six different franchises over the years, Yuvraj’s salary started decreasing after 2015. The southpaw acquired by the Delhi Daredevils for then an IPL record of ₹ 16 crore, over the years had seen his form and price tag going down by the year. The man who used to get aggressive bids in the IPL Auction halls for the past two years and had failed to find a bidder, only to be acquired by Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians for his base price of ₹ 2 crore and ₹ 1 crore respectively and released after the season. He though won the title with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016.

The fiercest batsman in the shortest format of the game is placed seventh on the IPL Moneyball highest earners list for his career aggregate of ₹ 84,60,50,000 as his IPL journey comes to an end.

IPL 2020 AUCTION: 971 players register for 73 spots up for grabs

Number 6 – AB de Villiers

The topmost overseas earner over the course of the Indian Premier League, AB de Villiers has been an important player for RCB since his move from Delhi Daredevils back in 2011. Mr. 360 as he is often referred to has been a very consistent player for RCB over the years but has been very unfortunate to have not won a single IPL title. Still ruling the hearts of the Indians, and getting retained for yet another year, ABD is at number 6 in our Moneyball Salary Calculator.

The dashing Proteas has till date earned ₹ 91,51,65,000 in IPL salary contracts.

Number 5 – Gautam Gambhir

Despite playing the last IPL back in 2018, the cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir has aggregated enough to feature in top 5 of the IPL 2020 Moneyball Salary Calculator. Gambhir, who spent 7 years with KKR has been an imperative player to lead their team to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. Highest salary with KKR made him earn more than ₹ 90 –crores – ₹ 94,62,00,000 to be precise – over his 11 years of IPL career.

Number 4 – Suresh Raina

The second most scorer in the history of Indian Premier League and always featuring for Chennai Super Kings except for two years when they were banned has gone past Gambhir in the Moneyball Salary Calculator. Raina, despite having been dropped out of the Indian team is still a regular feature for CSK and has won three titles with them. The 2021 can be the season when he can get past the ₹ 100 crore salary mark and become the fourth player to be in the ₹ 100 crores IPL salary club. That, however, is a distant dream for now as a lot wil depend on his showing this season. For now, Raina has ₹ 99,74,00,000 in his account from the IPL salaries alone.

Number 3 – Virat Kohli

The current Indian skipper is the only player turning up for just one franchisee since 2008. He has seen the maximum salary growth over the span of 12 years. Kohli who earned 12 lakh back in 2008 today gets the all-time highest salary of ₹17 crore for a single season of IPL. He has the most runs in the history of the IPL and also has the record for most runs in a single season. Only one of three Indians to win the Orange Cap, Virat Kohli features at No. 3 position in our Moneyball Salary Calculator with career earnings of ₹ 1,26,20,00,000.

Number 2 – Rohit Sharma

Five-time IPL champion and India’s deputy skipper in white-ball cricket, Rohit Sharma has been a big earner since his move to Mumbai Indians in 2011. He has successfully led the Mumbai Indians to four IPL titles. Sharma is the third-highest run-getter in the history of IPL and being consistently earning over the years. He features at No. 2 in our Moneyball Salary Calculator.

Rohit’s IPL salary contracts till date aggregate to ₹ 1,31,60,00,000 as he is all set to lead Mumbai Indians title defence.

Number 1 – Mahendra Singh Dhoni

The highest match-winning captain in the history of IPL has been associated with Chennai Super Kings since the very first year apart from the two seasons when MS played for Rising Pune Supergiants in the absence of CSK. He has 104 wins as captain in 174 matches and also leads the charge as the wicketkeeper with most dismissals in the IPL since 2008. Costliest player back in 2008, Dhoni earned hefty sums in each year of the league and rightly tops our Moneyball Salary Calculator chart.

His career IPL salary contracts worth ₹ 1,37,84,00,000 have till date not matched by any player and might as well remain unmatchable as long as he is on the scene.

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