Not Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma, this star is the highest earning Indian cricketer

Fans are always intrigued by the question that who is the highest earning Indian cricketer. Well, the recently-concluded IPL 2025 mega auction has changed the earlier equation in terms of official earnings by the Indian cricketers.

In the IPL 2025 auction, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) broke the bank for aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and bought him for a whooping Rs 27 crore. Thus pant becomes the richest cricketer in the cash-rich league. 

Apart from Pant’s Rs 27 crore IPL salary, his Rs 3 crore BCCI contract in the ‘B’ category makes his total official earning Rs 30 crore per annum.

Following the development, Pant has surpassed star batsman Virat Kohli in terms of highest earning by the Indian cricketers.

Read Also: IPL 2025: Axar Patel likely to be appointed as captain of Delhi Capitals

Now, star batsman Kohli has a total package of Rs 28 crore. He has been retained for Rs 21 crore by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of the mega auction. Moreover, he earns Rs 7 crore through his BCCI ‘A+’ category contract.

Meanwhile, Pant’s earnings are likely to increase next year if he is upgraded to the ‘A+’ category. He is playing all the three formats and he is most likely to be upgraded to A+ category. The aggressive cricketer is likely to earn around Rs 34 crore at least from the 2026 season at the current rate of Rs 7 crore in this category.