5 most paid batsmen across all IPL seasons

Indian Premier League (IPL) soon after its arrival in 2008 revolutionized the league-based T-20 cricket across the world. It not only managed to create a huge fan base but has also now turned out to be a dream place for cricketers to appear at.

Apart from providing a prime platform to budding cricketers, it made players earn big bucks. Recently as well, we saw how some unknown faces became the overnight million-dollar babies in the IPL Auction.

Similarly, there are many marquee players who though don't appear in the auction but have been earning millions for playing in IPL, which surely is the reason that none of these cricketers want to miss IPL these days.

As T20 cricket was believed to be mostly a batsmen-influenced game, so batsmen surely used to be the top buck-earners in the IPL. However, the scenario is changing with the time. In the recent auction, it was bowlers who snatched the big money, mostly because the event is expected to take place in South Africa next year.

Meanwhile, in this slide, we look at the top five batsmen with the highest salary across all the IPL seasons.

All the price tag stats are taken from CRICMETRIC

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Raina is currently getting 11 crores from Chennai Super Kings

The out-of-scene Indian batting star, Suresh Raina surely makes it to the list, having earned $13.3 million from the tournament so far. The southpaw was bought by Chennai Super Kings in the very first season. The twelfth season so long and he is still a part of it.

After CSK returned from the two-year ban, they added Raina on the contract of ₹11 crores, making his total earning approx to 88.7 crores across all the seasons as of now. The amount might seem whopping, but Raina has proved his worth time and again for men in yellow. With 4985 runs in 176 matches, he is the highest run-getter as well as most capped player of the IPL.

#4 Gautam Gambhir ($14.22M- 94.6 crore INR approx)

Gautam Gambhir had a brilliant reign with KKR

Gambhir after a long and successful career announced his retirement from competitive cricket recently. The former Indian skipper apart from fetching good success with the bat, had a great captaincy stint in the league, helping Kolkata Knight Riders win a couple of IPL trophies.

The left-handed batsman started his IPL journey with Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) but later settled with Kolkata. He played for KKR with the contract of 11.04 croreINR and ended up earning a total of $14.22 million in the tournament.

#3 Virat Kohli ($16.4M- 109.2 crore INR approx)

Kohli has earned over 109 crores so far in the IPL

Indian skipper, Virat Kohli alike international cricket has been a hot property in the IPL. He has just played for a single franchise from the very beginning till now. However, if one talks about his team's success in the tournament, then it hasn't been the way Kohli would have wanted.

Meanwhile, the batting heavyweight has earned the healthy amount of $16.4 million across all the seasons of IPL. His current contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore is worth 17 crore INR, which is the most expensive of all.

#2 Rohit Sharma ($17.5M- 116.8 crore INR approx)

Rohit Sharma has enjoyed his captaincy stint with MI

One of the swashbuckling limited-overs batsmen, Rohit Sharma surely features the list of top paid cricketers of the tournament. Having led Mumbai Indians to the title victory thrice, the Indian opener has thus far earned about $17.5 million from the IPL.

After playing for Deccan Chargers initially, he was bought by Mumbai in 2011. He has since been their main strength not only as captain but equally with the bat. Currently, he is enjoying the services of Mumbai Indians with the healthy contract of ₹15 crore.

#1 MS Dhoni ($18.4M- 122.8 crore INR approx)

MSD currently gets 15 crores from CSK

After reading the last four names, many might have been waiting to hear this name and finally, here it is. The most expensive buy of initial season of IPL, MS Dhoni tops the list with the earning of $18.million thus far in the tournament.

He played all the seasons with Chennai Super Kings (except the two in which CSK was banned) and has already won three IPL trophies for the franchise. The former Indian captain has often fired those crucial knocks for the Men-in-Yellow and helped them overcome the toughest of the situations. He also presently gets ₹15 crore from the franchise.