The stakes are very high in India's T20 cricket set-up at the moment, with many players looking to make a mark with new teams in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
And while they attempt to win the biggest prize in franchise cricket, many are also hoping to catch the eye of the decision makers for a spot in the final squad for the T20 World Cup which takes place in India early next year.
For their efforts, almost all of them have been given fabulous contracts by their franchises.
The top Indian IPL players are some of the most well paid cricketers in the world, and on Monday many of them saw their wealth grow further as the Indian cricket board announced new central contracts.
According to an upgraded payment system, India's cricketers stand to earn as much playing international cricket, especially Test matches, as their counterparts who are mainly T20 and IPL players.
Players are divided into four categories in the central contract - Grade A+ which guarantees 70 million rupees ($820,000), Grade A (50m rupees), Grade B (30m rupees) and Grade C (10m rupees).
Beyond that, players receive 1.5 million rupees ($17,500) as match fees per Test, 600,000 rupees for an ODI and 300,000 rupees for a T20I.
Over and above that, players who focus mainly on Test cricket have a separate incentive scheme where they stand to earn an additional 4.5m rupees per Test if they feature in over 75% of the Test matches in a season.
All that amounts to substantial sums of money. Below is a list of salaries of the top Indian players, taking into account their IPL salary and national central contract amount. It must be noted that the list does not include match fees for international matches or IPL games.
Top salaries of Indian cricketers for 2025
1. Rishabh Pant: 270 million rupees (IPL) & 50m rupees (India contract) - Total contract 320m rupees ($3.74m)
2. Shreyas Iyer: 267.5m rupees (IPL) & 30m rupees (India) - 297.5m rupees ($3.48m)
3. Virat Kohli: 210m rupees (IPL) & 70m rupees (India) - 280m rupees ($3.27m)
=4. Ravindra Jadeja: 180m rupees (IPL) & 70m rupees (India) - 250m rupees ($2.92m)
=4. Jasprit Bumrah: 180m rupees (IPL) & 70m rupees (India) - 250m rupees ($2.92m)
6. Rohit Sharma: 163m rupees (IPL) & 70m rupees (India) - 233m rupees ($2.72m)
7. Shubman Gill: 165m rupees (IPL) & 50m rupees (India) - 215m rupees ($2.51m)
8. Hardik Pandya: 163.5m rupees (IPL) & 50m rupees (India) - 213.5m rupees ($2.5m)
9. Yashasvi Jaiswal: 180m rupees (IPL) & 30m rupees (India) - 210m rupees ($2.45m)
10. Axar Patel: 165m rupees (IPL) & 30m rupees (India) - 195m rupees ($2.28m)
11. Suryakumar Yadav: 163.5m rupees (IPL) & 30m rupees (India) - 193.5m rupees ($2.26m)
=12. KL Rahul: 140m rupees (IPL) & 50m rupees (India) - 190m rupees ($2.22m)
=12. Sanju Samson: 180m rupees (IPL) & 10m rupees (India) - 190m rupees ($2.22m)
=12. Arshdeep Singh: 180m rupees (IPL) & 10m rupees (India) - 190m rupees ($2.22m)
=12. Ruturaj Gaikwad: 180m rupees (IPL) & 10m rupees (India) - 190m rupees ($2.22m)
16. Mohammad Siraj: 122.5m rupees (IPL) & 50m rupees (India) - 172.5 rupees ($2m)
17. Kuldeep Yadav: 132.5m rupees (IPL) & 30m rupees (India) - 162.5 rupees ($1.9m)
=18. Abhishek Sharma: 140m rupees (IPL) & 10m rupees (India) - 150m rupees ($1.75m)
=18. Dhruv Jurel: 140m rupees (IPL) & 10m rupees (India) - 150m rupees ($1.75m)
20. Rinku Singh: 130m rupees (IPL) & 10m rupees (India) - 140m rupees ($1.63m)
