Pay hike from BCCI makes Virat Kohli the highest paid test cricketer in India

Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli has become the highest paid Indian cricketer. Kohli reportedly earned a whopping Rs 1 crore 78 lakh over a period of nine months last season. The Board Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had recently decided to revise the salaries of Indian Test cricketers. This decision saw Kohli leapfrog former India test skipper Dhoni and became the highest paid cricketer. Dhoni made 3.5 million from match fees last year before retiring from the format.

The Indian board yesterday revealed it has doubled the wages of the players who are exclusively playing Test cricket for India. This is a relatively short list of players that includes the likes of Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara. The move to escalate the match fees as been taken to keep the test format lucrative and attractive.

As per BCCI’s revised fees, the players will now receive a sum of Rs 15 lakh for each Test. Apart from the fee for Test matches, players also receive a retainer fee, one-day fees, and T20 fee. Indian cricketers also receive individual performance bonus and team performance bonus if the team does well.

Virat Kohli took over as the Test skipper after MS Dhoni’s sudden decision to retire during the 2015 tour of Australia. Kohli has been since then doing a commendable job and has led his side to impressive overseas series victories in Sri Lanka and West Indies. The Indian team recently also claimed the top spot in the Test ranking after winning the taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match test series against New Zealand.

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