Cricket World Cup Team-wise salaries: Which of the 10 teams in the World Cup is paid the highest by their respective Cricket Boards
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The game of Cricket has come a long way in terms of its monetary value. The different broadcasters of the game are ready to pay any amount without scratching their heads to earn the rights.
The inception of T20 leagues in Cricket playing nations has further acted as a catalyst for the respective Cricket boards in terms of their revenue growth.
ALSO READ: Top 10 cricketers and value of their most lavish houses
While the sport still has a long path to thread towards its growth in terms of the inclusiveness of more member nations, the already existing ones have had steady revenue, with some boards even paying more than enough salaries to its players.
Let’s have a look at the combined salaries of the players from each of the 10 teams in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales.
Afghanistan- $105,000 (around INR 72.82 lakhs)
The rise of Afghanistan Cricket Team in World Cricket is an inspiration for each and every person who is struggling in life. They have gone on from strength to strength, and now in 2019 found themselves rubbing shoulders against the top in the world. They have surpassed teams like Ireland, Zimbabwe who had stepped on to the international arena earlier than them.
Talking about the salaries the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) pays to its players, being a young board, it might seem to be paltry in comparison to someone like a BCCI or ECB. But that’s understandable.
Apparently, there isn’t a central contract system for the players, as they are paid on a monthly basis.
The pay is high for the senior cricketers while it scales down for the relatively new cricketers. When Asghar Afghan was the captain of the team, he was the highest paid cricketer in the team. But since there are three different captains for three formats now, the situation might be slightly different.
As per the reports in SportsMaza, the monthly salaries for these cricketers range from $700 to $400. Thus, on average, it is about $550 dollars per month and that sums up to around $6,600 per cricketer for an annual year. If we round that off to $7,000 (Rs 4.86 lakhs) keeping various bonuses and additional salaries for the captains in mind, the squad earns about $105,000 dollars per year.
Bangladesh- $455,000 (around INR 3.15 crores)
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has a central contract system for their players divided into A+, A, B, and ‘Rookie’ categories.
The team has preformed exceedingly well in the recent past in the limited overs format. With the experience they possess, nobody should have their eyebrows raises, if they make it through to the semi-finals of the ongoing World Cup.
According to Wikipedia, the salaries for these four grades are $57,000 (Rs 39.59 lakhs) , $43,000 (Rs 29.87 lakhs), $28,000 (Rs 19.45 lakhs) and $14,000 (Rs 9.72 lakhs) respectively. Since Grade C and Grade D have been dissolved quite recently, it made it possible for the board to increase the salaries of the players as the ones who have the central contracts now are relatively lesser. Only 11 players out of the 15 in the World Cup squad have a central contract and it all sums up to $455,000 per annum.
Sri Lanka- $2,502,280 (around INR 17.35 crores)
Although going through a torrid time in International Cricket since the 2015 World Cup, the Sri Lankan players have had an increase in their salary caps, courtesy the profits earned by the board last year.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) made a massive 34 per cent profit last year as a result of which a total of 33 cricketers witnessed a pay hike last year.
All the players were divided into five categories – A, B, C, D and Premier. According to Sports Eon, 11 players in the 15-member squad currently have a central contract. The total sum of their salaries is approximately $2,502,280. While Grade A cricketers get $509,000 (Rs 3.53 crores), Grade B, C, and D get paid $268,000 (Rs 1.86 crores), $181,570 (Rs 1.26 crores) and $91,740 (Rs 63.72 lakhs) respectively. The premier category players get a salary of $52,420 (Rs 36.41 lakhs) per annum.
West Indies- $1,850,000 (around INR 12.83 crores)
Cricket West Indies (WI) has awarded a total of 18 cricketers with the annual contract in October 2018 and these contracts will be valid till 30 June 2019.
There were four all-format retainers and three white-ball retainers. Eight players managed to get a red-ball cricket contract while three players were put in the Development Retainers category.
The CWI pays $300,000 (Rs 2.08 crores) per annum to the all-format retainers. The red-ball and white-ball retainers are expected to earn about $250,000 (Rs 1.73 crores) or $200,000 9 (Rs 1.39 crores) per annum depending on the experience. Only 7 out of the 15 players in the Windies team have got central contracts. Thus, overall, the players in the Windies squad earn a total of $1,850,000 as their salary approximately.
Pakistan- PKR 8,28,00,000 (around INR 3.91 crores)
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the central contracts for the cricketers in August 2018. All the 33 players who were awarded the contracts were divided into five categories. As per the new contracts, the salary for each of the category was increased between 25 and 30 per cent and also the Match Fees was increased by 20 per cent across categories. The new ‘Category E’ which has introduced rewards the top performers in domestic cricket.
As per the reports in SamaaTV, the board pays PKR 0.8 million (Rs 3.8 lakhs) per month for the Category A players. The remaining four categories get paid PKR 0.5 million (Rs 2.37 lakhs), PKR 0.35 million (Rs 1.6 lakhs), PKR 0.2 million and PKR 0.1 million per month respectively. All the players in the Pakistan World Cup squad except Mohammad Hasnain are centrally contracted. In total, they earn PKR 8,28,00,000 per year.
New Zealand- $2,625,000 (around INR 18.72 crores)
New Zealand Cricket announced the central contracts for 20 players for the 2019-20 season. While three players were included to the list, three cricketers who got a contract during the 2018-19 season had to miss out. The top 20 players are also ranked from 1-20 and get their salaries accordingly.
NZC hasn’t revealed the exact payment made to the players. But, the average salary for a player could be anywhere around $180,000 (Rs 1.2 lakhs). Since all the 15 players taking part in the World Cup are centrally contracted, the sum of their salaries could add up to $2,700,000 dollars approximately.
South Africa- $3,650,000 (around INR 25.32 crores)
Cricket South Africa (CSA) awarded annual central contracts to 16 players, for the 2019-20 season. Veteran cricketers JP Duminy and Imran Tahir’s contracts weren’t renewed though. Reeza Hendricks and Theunis de Bruyn were the new additions to this contract list this year.
Excluding Dale Steyn, who was ruled out of the tournament, 9 players from the current South African squad have got a central contract. Together, their salaries add up to around INR 25.32 crores.
England- €9,950,000 (around INR 78.31 crores)
Although it is the BCCI, which is the highest earning board in the World, The England Cricket Board (ECB) pays the highest combined salary to its players on a yearly basis.
The England Cricket Board (ECB) awarded 10 Test contracts and 13 white-ball contracts in September 2018. All the English players are ranked according to their performances, off-field contributions, fielding and fitness standards- which are the parameters for their payment.
According to Metro, the salaries for the 2017-18 season ranged between €120,000 (Rs 1.05 crores) and €1,500,000 (Rs 13.24 crores). The pay structure is expected to be the same for the 2019-20 season as well.
12 players in the World Cup squad have a central contract and they nearly get a crore euros as their salary.
Australia- AUD 4,171,500 (around INR 20.26 crores)
The Australian Cricketers Association and Cricket Australia (CA) were involved in an infamous payment dispute quite recently.
The result resulted in an agreement that 30% of the revenue share will go to the players, as opposed to 26% previously. The agreed revenue is made up of 27.5 per cent of forecast revenue streams and a 2.5 per cent performance pool.
The base salary for a male international cricketer is now AUD 278,100 (Rs 1.34 crores) for the first year of this agreement. That will rise by 15.9 per cent in the last year of the agreement in 2021-2022 to AUD 313,004 (Rs 1.51 crores).
The entire deal for the next five years is worth about AUD 500 million. Thus, only the base salary of the 15 cricketers in the Australian squad sums up to AUD 4,171,500 per year. The 13 cricketers who are a part of the central contract also get the revenue share above the base salary.
India- INR 62 crores (nearly $89.35k)
The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) is the richest cricket board in the world. 25 Indian cricketers, who were divided into four categories, were awarded the central contracts for 2019-20.The salaries of Indian players are quite high when compared to most of the other nations. Grade A+, A, B and C are paid INR 7 crores, INR 5 crores, INR 3 crores and INR 1 crore respectively.
14 out of the 15 players who are a part of the Indian World Cup squad have a central contract. The players in the India squad earn INR 62 crores combined.
