Professionalism in cricket, captains’ earning hefty around the world

At one time sports were merely a source of entertainment. Happiness was the essence of the game. Back then there was no way to make money through sports. The issue of money has come up with the addition of professionalism to the game over time. The professionalism of the game might have come from thinking about those who spend time playing or whose only job is to play and think about the progress of the game. Nowadays those who are involved in sports and playing sports at the national level are probably better off financially than people in other professions.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) tops the list of income among the Test-playing teams in cricket. Then there are the Australian and England Cricket Boards. Let’s take a look at how the cricketers who are leading these teams get their salaries –

Joe Root (Test captain, England)
England Test captain Joe Root receives the highest salary of 870,000 pounds from the England Cricket Board, which is approximately USD 1,229,000.

Eoin Morgan (Limited-overs captain, England)
England’s World Cup-winning captain receives a salary of 170,000 pounds a year; which is approximately USD 241,000.

Virat Kohli (Captain, India)
Virat Kohli is one of the best batsmen in the world of this era. Kohli, who is in BCCI’s ‘A+’ category, gets an annual salary of Rs.7 crores; which is approximately USD 961,000.

Tim Paine (Test captain, Australia)
Tim Paine receives a salary of 358,000 Australian dollars a year; which is about USD 278,000.

Aaron Finch (Limited-overs captain, Australia)
Aaron Finch receives a salary a year of 966,000 Australian dollars as per the latest contract from the Australian Cricket Board; which is about USD 750,000.

Kane Williamson (captain, New Zealand)
Kane Williamson is one of the best batsmen across the globe. The New Zealand captain receives an annual salary of 607,000 New Zealand dollars; which is about USD 440,000. In addition, the captain received a bonus of USD 40,000.

Babar Azam (Captain, Pakistan)
Babar Azam is in the ‘A’ category of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) central contract. He is one of the best batsmen of the present time, his annual salary is 13.2 million Pakistani rupees; which is approximately USD 85,000.

Dean Elgar (Test captain, South Africa)
Dean Elgar, South Africa’s Test captain receives a salary of 6100,000 South African rand; which is about USD 450,000.

Temba Bavuma (Limited-overs captain, South Africa)
Temba Bavuma, the first black captain in South African history, receives a salary of 4,735,000 South African rand from the Cricket Board; which is about USD 350,000.

Dimuth Karunaratne (Test captain, Sri Lanka)
According to the latest agreement, Sri Lankan Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne receives a salary of 13.8 million Sri Lankan rupee a year; which is approximately USD 70,000.

Kusal Perera (Limited-overs captain, Sri Lanka)
Kusal Perera got the responsibility as the new captain in the last Bangladesh tour. The left-handed batsman receives a salary of 7 million Sri Lankan rupee a year from his country’s cricket board; which is approximately USD 35,000.

Kraigg Brathwaite (Test captain, West Indies)
Kraigg Brathwaite receives 200,000 USD from the West Indies Cricket Board each season.

Kieron Pollard (Limited-overs captain, West Indies)
According to the latest agreement from the West Indies Cricket Board, Kieron Pollard will receive USD 250,000 a year.

Mominul Haque (Bangladesh Test captain)
Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque is a Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ‘A’ category cricketer. His monthly salary is Taka 3 lakh. At the end of a year, his salary stands at 36 lakh Taka; which is approximately USD 42,000. He also receives some bonus as a captain.

Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad (Bangladesh ODI and T20 captains)
Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad are both ‘A +’ category cricketers under the BCB’s central contract. As a cricketer, they get a salary of 4 lakh Taka per month from the board. Their annual income is 48 lakh Taka; which is approximately USD 56,000. They also get some bonus as captains.

Professionalism has added some extra bit of seriousness in the games. Sometimes, cricketers also show unwillingness to play if their demand due to professionalism doesn’t meet up. Hence, this professionalism in cricket can be understood as a blessing and curse both.

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