After Football, cricket is the most popular game all across the world . The main reason for its popularity is its massive fan following in India resulted Indian cricketers to become richest cricketers in the world. A lot of cricketing stars have become national icons.

A cricketer’s success is measure by his performance in the field. All the records broken, made the players taste the success and many successful companies have made the best use of  their fame for a positive brand image.

While many cricket athletes are so passionately attached with the game that they can’t think of doing anything else then cricket. While the clever ones usually invest in one or more business ventures to live a lavish lifestyle along with the fame they receive.

Let us have a look at the top 7 richest cricketers in the world.

Sachin Tendulkar (Net Worth Rs 1090 Crore)

The Richest cricketer in the world is the ‘God of Cricket’ himself, Mr. Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin is the best batsman in international cricket with more than 34,000 runs. Tendulkar have 100 centuries in international cricket and popularly known as Master Blaster. Sachin Tendulkar has endorsed hundreds of global brands like Pepsi, BMW, Coca-cola, Adidas, VISA, Britannia, Canon, Castrol, etc. Sachin was the first cricketer to score a Rs 100 crore deal when he became a brand ambassador of MRF

In 2001, Sachin became the brand ambassador of MRF and became the first cricketer to score a Rs 100 crore deal. In the late 1990’s, Sachin became a brand himself and helped BCCI to get rid of debt and become the richest cricketing board in the world. He is also the mentor of Mumbai Indians which is 4 times IPL Champion. Sachin owns Kerala Blasters FC, a football team in the Indian Super League. A mumbaikar has invested in many companies and owns stakes in UAE-based travel company call Musafir, Smaash Entertainment, Future Gorup, Manipal Group and have share of many more companies.

MS Dhoni (Net Worth Rs 767 Crore)

MS Dhoni is an inspiration to 1.3 billion population of India and he is second in the row of richest cricketers in the world . He is also the reason for a lot of people to start watching cricket. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an international icon and is one of the highest paid celebrities in India. MS is the former captain of Indian team and and the only captain to have all 3 ICC Tournament Trophies to his name. He earns more than $ 30 million out of brand endorsements. He has endorsed Boost, Gulf Oil, Reebok, TVS Motors, Ashok Leyland, Amrapali, Godaddy, Orient and many more.

MS Dhoni is the captain of Chennai Super Kings since beginning and is under Rs 15 crore contract. He is the owner of fashion brand by the name ‘Se7en’. Dhoni also invested in lot of business ventures. He has a stake in one of India’s leading fitness centres i.e. Sports Kit. He also co-owns ISL club called Chennaiyin FC and also have shares in Rhiti Sports, a sports marketing and management firm.

Virat Kohli (Net Worth Rs 688 Crore)

Virat Kohli is the only cricketer in Forbes list of highest paid athletes in the world. There is no doubt that Virat Kohli is the best batsman of all formats with more than 11,000 ODI runs. Virat Kohli is the internation icon and is a part of almost every alternate advertisements on your TV screen. His recent signing deal is with the MRF, with whom he extended is bat sponsorship deal for 8 years for $ 15 million. Kohli extended is Rs 17 Crore contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018 which made him highest paid cricketer in IPL. He has endorsed international brands like Pepsi, Valvoline, google, Hero, Colgate, Tissot, Manyavar, etc. Kohli charges almost $ 1million a day for his shoots and his endorsements bring him nearly $20 million. In 2015, Kohli signed 1 5 crore deal with Audi India.

He also own famous fashion brands by the name Wrogn and One8 (partnered with Puma). Kohli also owns ISL’s football team of FC Goa and also a share holder of Sport Convo.

Jacques Kallis (Net Worth 500 crore)

Next in the list of richest cricketers is South Africa’s Jacques Kallis who is the best all-rounder in international player cricket has ever witnessed. Jacques has scored 25,534 runs and has scalped 577 wickets in his 519 international appearances. In 2012 IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders won IPL and he played a crucial role in the victory. He is also a brand ambassador of Advance Hair Studio India since 2017. Currently he is the Batting Consultant of KKR.

Brian Lara (Net Worth ₹415 Crore)

Brian Lara is the glorious West Indian batsman and he played a major role in uplifting the economy of West Indies Cricket Board. This also get him on 5th spot in the category of richest cricketers. He has scored more than 21,000 runs in 430 international innings he has played. He is the only batsman to score 400 runs in an in innings of a test  match and this record is unbeatable till the time. Brian Lara’s classy batting has earned him fans not only from Caribbean islands, but from all over the world.His batting performance and rising popularity attracted a lot of sponsors which made West Indies Cricket Board rich. He also became the Brand Ambassador of MRF – Indian Tyre Company. Post retirement, Lara has played Professional Golf and has won a lot of International Golf competitions as well.

Ricky Thomas Ponting (Net Worth 497 crores)

Ricky Ponting is unbelievable famous cricketer, commentator and coach from Australia. Ponting is the only cricketer to win in two consecutive ICC World Cups and is one of the top batsman in the history of the support. This Australian player have more than 13,000 ODI runs and 13,000 Test Runs. He has endorsed brands like Valvoline, Adidas, Rexona, Pura Milk, Kookaburra bats and many more. He is the head coach of Delhi Capitals IPL team.

Sourav Ganguly (Net Worth 354 Crore)

Sourav Ganguly, the man from Bengal who is considered as one of the India’s greatest skippers ever. The 46 year old is often seen in the commentary box and he also works as a mentor for Delhi Capitals. ‘Dada’ has also invested in different ventures and also endorse various brands like Puma, Burnpur cements, Cycle Agarbattis, etc. Ganguly made his initial investment in  a restaurant called ‘Sourav’s’- The Food Pavilion, but it didn’t attain much success. Later he invested in a digital start up called Flickstree. He is also the co-owner of ISL side ATK. Virat Kohli is quite aggressive as a skipper and for many, he is the decade’s version of Sourav Ganguly. Currently Ganguly is President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) , which is the world’s richest cricket body.

Conclusion

The above players are the richest cricketers in the world who invested in different ventures and increase their net worth exponentially. Some of the them work like an entrepreneurs and achieved big.