Senior Indian cricketers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are set to receive a substantial financial payout from their upcoming five match One Day International tour of New Zealand. Both veteran batters stand to earn 30 lakh rupees each purely in match fees, provided they feature in the playing eleven across all fixtures of the bilateral series. Under the current match fee schedule established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, every cricketer named in the final eleven for an ODI receives six lakh rupees per appearance.
Breakdown of the Match Fee Calculations in New Zealand
For most bilateral assignments in recent years, the Indian team has routinely engaged in three match ODI series. That schedule traditionally yielded an aggregate match fee of 18 lakh rupees per series for cricketers who featured in all games. The upcoming tour of New Zealand expands the itinerary to five matches, thereby elevating the overall match fee earnings to 30 lakh rupees for each player who plays through the entire series.
The financial regulations governed by the BCCI make a clear structural distinction between starting players and squad reserves. While starting members of the playing eleven receive the standard six lakh rupees per match, players named in the touring party who remain on the bench as reserves are compensated with three lakh rupees per match.
Grade B Retainer and Annual Compensation Structure
Annual central contracts in Indian cricket serve as a benchmark reflecting a player's active role across formats. Because Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli presently participate exclusively in the ODI format, they are placed in Grade B of the central contract list. Under this specific category, the board issues an annual retainer salary of three crore rupees to each of them.
While commercial sponsorships, brand endorsements, and personal ventures away from the cricket pitch constitute the primary share of earnings for both stars, their official compensation remains structured around their contractual bracket and match appearances. The combination of their three crore annual retainer alongside individual match fees establishes their baseline earnings directly from cricket fixtures.
Overhaul of Central Contract Categories and Top Brackets
The contractual framework of the BCCI has seen notable revisions over recent administrative cycles. In earlier contract cycles, the board operated a marquee Grade A Plus bracket that granted top tier cricketers a retainer of seven crore rupees per year. That particular tier has since been disbanded, leaving five crore rupees as the highest possible annual retainer a player can receive from the governing body.
At present, only three players hold Grade A contracts valued at five crore rupees annually: Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah. Notably, none of these three players currently features across all three international formats for India. Under the updated structure, players assigned to Grade B receive three crore rupees, while those placed in the Grade C tier receive one crore rupees per annum.
