M S Dhoni, the Cricket Captain is undoubtedly considered to be the highest paid brand endorser in India. However, when it comes putting a sticker on his bat, Virat goes ahead of Dhoni.
Who gets paid more on field?
To put a Spartan sticker on the bat, Dhoni gets paid around 6 crore rupees. On the other hand, Kohli, who uses MRF bat gets paid 8 crore rupees for the same. Apart from that, 2 crore rupees are paid for endorsing shoes and apparel on the pitch.
Talking about off-field endorsements, Dhoni succeeds
Dhoni is paid around 8 crore when it comes to off-field endorsements while Virat just remains at 5 crore. A CEO of some sportswear firm states that Kohli, Yuvraj and Dhoni are players who can merchandise for moving off shelves.
Deal with Yuvi!
Puma, the famous sportswear brand has struck a 4 crore deal with Yuvraj Singh for apparel, footwear and bat.
OMG! These cricketers too are paid so much!
Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina earn up to 3 crore rupees for sporting Ceat stickers on the bats. On the other hand, Ajinkya Rahane charges around 1.5crore for apparel, footwear and bat together. MRF pays 3 crore rupees to Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan.
Some new brands that have come in
With T20 World Cup in progress, which is going to be followed by IPL, there is a competition among brands for signing up new players for endorsing the kits, hoping that the sales would be impacted positively. Apart from usual brands like Nike and Puma, new entrants such as Head and New Balance are also targeting T20 cricket leagues.
Indian cricketers are paid more!
Indian players get paid higher as compared to foreign counterparts since cricket is highly popular in India. However, cricketers like Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers too have a huge fan base and demand big money.