Source - The Hindu
India Test skipper Virat Kohli was among the few cricketers who received a higher actual salary, according to the salary details of the retained IPL players listed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday.
Kohli’s actual salary in Royal Challengers Bangalore was listed as Rs. 15 crore while the purse deduction amount was Rs. 12.50 crore in the list put up by the BCCI in its website, just days ahead of the Lodha Committee’s reform report on January 4.
India’s limited over skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was bought by Pune recently, however, had the same actual salary and purse deduction of Rs. 12.50 crore while playing for Chennai Super Kings.
Among other Indians, Harbhajan Singh (Rs. 5.5 crore against 8 crore) and Ambati Rayudu (Rs. 4 crore, Rs. 6 crore) were the top gainers according to the list put up by BCCI as a part of its recent attempts to ensure transparency.
West Indies batsman Chris Gayle (Rs. 7.50 crore, Rs. 8.40 crore) and South African all-rounder Faf du Plessis (Rs. 4 crore, Rs. 4.75 crore) were the gainers among international cricketers.
However, like Dhoni, South Africa’s ODI skipper A.B. de Villers (Rs. 9.5 crore), Shikhar Dhawan (Rs. 12.5 crore), R. Ashwin (Rs. 7.5 crore) and West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo (Rs. 4 crore) didn’t see any change in their actual salaries.
There were also many cricketers whose actual salary slumped.
The Kings XI Punjab duo of David Miller (Rs. 12.5 crore, Rs. 5 crore) and Manan Vora (Rs. 4 crore, Rs. 3.5 crore) and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Gautam Gambhir (Rs. 12.5 crore, Rs. 10 crore) and Sunil Narine (Rs. 9.5 crore, Rs. 8 crore) saw their actual salary go down.
Mumbai Indians cricketers, West Indies’ Kieron Pollard (Rs. 9.5 crore, Rs. 9.7 crore) and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga (Rs. 7.5 crore, Rs. 8.1 crore) also had a higher actual salary according to the BCCI list.
Four cricketers, who were recently bought by Team Rajkot, namely Suresh Raina (Rs. 12.5 crore, Rs. 9.5 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs. 9.5 crore, Rs. 5.5 crore), New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum (Rs. 7.5 crore, Rs. 3.25 crore) and Australia’s James Faulkner (Rs. 5.5 crore, Rs. 5.1 crore) were among those who had a lower actual salary.
Team Pune’s Ajinkya Rahane (Rs. 9.5 crore, Rs. 8 crore) and Steven Smith (Rs. 5.5 crore, Rs. 4 crore) too were among the cricketers who would be paid less actual salary by their franchise according to the BCCI list.
This is the first time since the introduction of the retention system in 2010 that BCCI has disclosed the actual remuneration paid to the retained players.
The retention system allows the teams to sign a certain number of players from their squad ahead of the auction.