THIS star Indian cricketer has surpassed Virat Kohli as the highest-earning Indian cricketer after the IPL 2025 Mega Auction earlier this week.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 Mega Auction earlier this week has totally changed the equations in Indian cricket in terms of official earnings. We have a new highest-earning Indian cricketer after the IPL auctions, surpassing Virat Kohli – who was the undisputed leader in this aspect.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) broke the bank to bring home Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for Rs 27 crore – the highest-ever salary paid to any cricket in the history of the T20 league. Pant’s Rs 27 crore salary in addition to his Rs 3 crore BCCI contract in the ‘B’ category means his total earning is Rs 30 crore.
Former India captain Kohli, who was retained for Rs 21 crore by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of the mega auction has a total salary package of Rs 28 crore currently thanks to his BCCI ‘A+’ category contract worth Rs 7 lakh.
In addition to this, Pant’s earnings are only going to rise next year if he is upgraded to the ‘A+’ category and becomes a regular in all three formats of the game. At the current rate of Rs 7 crore in this category, Pant is likely to earn around Rs 34 crore at least from the 2026 season.
Rishabh Pant ‘s IPL 2025 salary breakdown! 🤑🏏
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Kohli, on the other hand, is likely to be downgraded to the ‘A’ category since he no longer plays in all three formats of the game. The ‘A+’ category is reserved for those Indian cricketers who are permanent fixtures in all three formats of the game – Tests, ODIs and T20s. Kohli has retired from Test cricket along with Test captain Rohit Sharma after India’s win in the T20 World Cup 2024 final.
Test match skipper Rohit is far behind in this list because his IPL contract is worth Rs 16.3 crore with the Mumbai Indians, who retained him ahead of the auction, and along with his ‘A+’ contract it comes to only about Rs 23.3 crore. Rohit’s teammate in Mumbai Indians, Jasprit Bumrah, in fact has moved above him with an IPL salary of Rs 18 crore in addition to Rs 7 crore ‘A+’ BCCI contract – taking it to Rs 25 crore.
Chennai Super Kings and India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is also earning Rs 25 crore like Bumrah.
Apart from Pant, the two other top earners in the IPL 2025 mega auction were Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer, who earned Rs 26.75 crore and Rs 23.75 crore respectively. But both the Indian cricketers currently don’t have a BCCI contract.
However, looking at Shreyas Iyer’s domestic form in Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, a comeback into the Indian side is to far away if he can produce some fireworks in IPL 2025 next year.
Here’s a list of top 5 highest earning Indian cricketers…
| S. No. | Name | BCCI salary | IPL salary | Total |
| 1. | Rishabh Pant | Rs 3 crore | Rs 27 crore | Rs 30 crore |
| 2. | Virat Kohli | Rs 7 crore | Rs 21 crore | Rs 28 crore |
| 3. | Jasprit Bumrah | Rs 7 crore | Rs 18 crore | Rs 25 crore |
| 4. | Ravindra Jadeja | Rs 7 crore | Rs 18 crore | Rs 25 crore |
| 5. | Rohit Sharma | Rs 7 crore | Rs 16.3 crore | Rs 23.3 crore |
