Forbes Magazine ranks MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli among the highest paid athletes of the world

According to Forbes Magazine, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli were ranked among the highest paid athletes of the world. There is no doubt that both these two Indian cricketers dominant the list when it comes to the highest paid cricketers of the world. This magazine showed that Dhoni’s annual income in the last year was $27.43, but other sources indicated his income was almost $35 million. Virat Kohli earned $11.3 million. UK magazine Sports Pro in May last year ranked him the second most marketable athlete behind Lewis Hamilton, British Formula One driver. The interesting thing is that in this list he was followed by superstars like Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Compared to the Indian cricketers, the Australian cricketers’ earnings are very less in amount. However, their skipper Michael Clarke earned $6 million in 2013 and became the highest paid sports star based in the country. His income was more than an entire NRL playing roster. His payment will be increased after Cricket Australia’s decision to increase the payment of the top 20 contracted Australian players.

According to this contract, average Australian cricketers who play all three formats of the game will get at least $1 million a year just from playing cricket while senior players like Clarke, Shane Watson and David Warner will earn $2 million a year just for playing cricket. The minimum salary is about $220,000.