M.S. Dhoni’s $8 million of endorsement income over the last year.He is the caption of Indian cricket team and Chennai Super Kings.The Major Sponsors are Reebok, GE Money, Pepsi.His earnings in the year 2009 is $10 million.
2.Sachin Tendulkar
Tendulkar, widely considered one of the greatest batsman in cricket history, is one of five IPL cricketers with “icon” status, meaning he’s exempt from the league’s player auction and instead automatically receives a paycheck 15% larger than his highest paid Mumbai teammate.The Major Sponsors are Adidas, Canon, Royal Bank of Scotland. His earnings in the year 2009 is $8 million
3.Yuvraj Singh
Singh earned $4 million over the last 12 months from endorsements and other commercial ventures off the field, including providing a voice in the animated filmJumbo, his Bollywood debut. The Major Sponsors are Fiat, Reebok, Microsoft. His earnings in the year 2009 is $5.5 million
4.Rahul Dravid
A former International Cricket Council Player of the Year, Dravid earns slightly over $1 million annually from Bangalore as one of the IPL’s five icon players. The Major Sponsors are Castrol, Reebok. His earnings in the year 2009 is $5 million.
5.Andrew Flintoff
Flintoff will retire from five-day national team competition next month and is doing his best to go out on top: In July he bowled England to its first Test victory in 75 years over Australia at Lord’s, cricket’s most storied venue. The Major Sponsors are Puma, Volkswagen, Barclays. His earnings in the year 2009 is $4 million.
6.Sourav Ganguly
Ganguly, captain of the IPL’s Knight Riders, ranks fourth all-time in runs on India’s national team, a squad he used to also captain. The Major Sponsors are Puma, Pepsi. His earnings in the year 2009 is $3.5 million.
*Retired from national team play in 2008
6.Ricky Ponting
Ponting has slowly shed his bad boy image to become one of Australia’s most marketable athletes, earning more than $2 million in commercial endorsements over the last 12 months.The Major Sponsors are Valvoline, KFC, Adidas. His earnings in the year 2009 is $3.5 million.
*Did not play in the IPL in 2009
8.Brett Lee
One of the fastest bowlers in cricket history, Lee was once clocked at 99.9 miles per hour on the radar gun, just shy of Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar’s record of 100 mph.The Major Sponsors are Gatorade, Volkswagen, KFC, Adidas. His earnings in the year 2009 is $3 million.
8. (Tie) Kevin Pietersen
Bangalore purchased the rights to Pietersen at auction for a record $1.55 million annual salary–a sum that’s tied with Chennai’s Flintoff as the highest auction price in the IPL’s two year history.The Major Sponsors are Red Bull, Vodafone, Adidas. His earnings in the year 2009 is $3 million.
10. Michael Clarke
Clarke is the highest-profile cricketer who has yet to join the IPL, instead preferring to leave money on the table and play club matches in his native Australia.The Major Sponsors are Gillette, Slazenger. His earnings in the year 2009 is $2.5 million.
Jacques Rudolph fields and returns a loose cricket ball in the Yorkshire v Lancashire Twenty20 match on 29th May 2009, and takes out a pigeon with the accuracy of an patriot missile.
Rumours that Jacques marked up a crossed out pigeon icon on his locker after the match remain unfounded.
