The richest cricketer in the world is Sachin Tendulkar, with an estimated fortune of about $165 million as of October 2026. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli follow at roughly $125 million each. Cricketers do not file their finances, so every figure here is our estimate, built from IPL earnings, central contracts, disclosed startup rounds and published stake sales, converted at about ₹95 to the dollar.
| Rank | Cricketer | Our estimate (USD) | Main sources of wealth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Ravindra Jadeja | about $22M | IPL pay, central contract |
| 9 | Ricky Ponting | about $24M | Coaching, commentary, media |
| 8 | Rohit Sharma | about $30M | IPL pay, central contract, endorsements |
| 7 | Sourav Ganguly | about $34M | Playing earnings, administration, brand deals |
| 6 | Rahul Dravid | about $35M | Coaching salary, investments |
| 5 | Shane Warne | about $54M | Estate, Rajasthan Royals stake |
| 4 | Brian Lara | about $60M | Commentary, appearances, endorsements |
| 3 | Virat Kohli | about $125M | Endorsements, IPL pay, apparel and insurance stakes |
| 2 | MS Dhoni | about $125M | IPL pay, endorsements, startup stakes |
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | about $165M | Endorsements, startup stakes, restaurants |
10. Ravindra Jadeja: about $22 million
Jadeja has collected about ₹157 crore (about $16.5 million) from the IPL, the fourth-highest total on record. He sits near the top of the earnings table because he has stayed in demand for well over a decade.
We add endorsements to the league pay and land at $22 million.
9. Ricky Ponting: about $24 million
Ponting has turned his Australian captaincy into a second career: IPL and international coaching stints, commentary and media work. His contracts were never published, so we work from yearly earnings lists and his property records, which support about $24 million, in a range of $15 million to $40 million.
This is a rough estimate and assumes no major asset we cannot see.
8. Rohit Sharma: about $30 million
Rohit has earned about ₹227 crore in the IPL (about $24 million, gross of tax), the second most of any player in history. Add the central contract and brand deals and the true total sits above the ₹215 crore (about $23 million) net worth that some outlets print.
Our estimate adds endorsements and subtracts a share for tax. It is the most sensitive of the ten to the rate you use.
7. Sourav Ganguly: about $34 million
Ganguly kept earning after he stopped playing: the board presidency, commentary, a franchise advisory role and a long line of brand deals. No contract of his has been published, so we built about $34 million from his reported IPL pay and brand fees, with tax, spending and returns as our assumptions.
It is the softest figure in the top ten, so treat it as a range of $24 million to $61 million.
6. Rahul Dravid: about $35 million
Dravid’s wealth is a coaching story. He ran India as head coach through the 2024 T20 World Cup win, and coaching pay plus investments feed his total. One 2026 estimate gives ₹320 crore, which is about $34 million at today’s rate.
We round to $35 million and note that the 2025 figure circulating was half as large, so the range is wide.
5. Shane Warne: about $54 million
Warne, who died in March 2022, took 708 Test wickets and captained Rajasthan Royals to the first IPL title in 2008. His will came to about A$20.7 million when it was published in 2023.
The larger piece is his reported 3 percent of the Royals, priced at the $1.65 billion valuation agreed in May 2026. The $54 million is our estimate of what now belongs to his children and family, in a range of $20 million to $60 million.
4. Brian Lara: about $60 million
Lara is the only West Indian on the list. His record-setting 400 not out made him a global name, and commentary, appearances and endorsements have kept him there. The 2026 range is about $60 million.
We keep to that range because his income sources are well known and none involves a disclosed equity stake.
3. Virat Kohli: about $125 million
Kohli is the highest earner in the history of the IPL, with about ₹230 crore (about $24 million) from Royal Challengers Bengaluru through 2026, and he was retained at ₹21 crore for the 2025 cycle. Add the ₹7 crore A+ central contract and a long endorsement list, and his annual income is among the highest in the sport.
He and his wife Anushka Sharma put about ₹2.5 crore into the insurer Digit in February 2020, a stake that later rode the company’s stock market listing. He also put about $1.8 million into Universal Sportsbiz, the parent of the Wrogn apparel label, in 2020. Filings show that business reported ₹223.2 crore of revenue after a 9 percent drop, against accumulated losses of ₹709 crore, so we do not credit the stake with much value.
Published ranges run from ₹1,050 crore to ₹1,250 crore ($110 million to $130 million). We settle at $125 million.
2. MS Dhoni: about $125 million
Dhoni has been a Chennai Super Kings fixture since 2008, and the league has paid him about ₹200 crore over his career (roughly $21 million, per a May 2026 earnings study). The more interesting number is what he did with it. He is reported to hold about 1.1 percent of the drone maker Garuda Aerospace, which reportedly won regulatory approval in August 2026 for an IPO of up to ₹750 crore of fresh shares, and he joined an angel round in the electric-bike maker E Motorad in April 2024.
The number rests on career earnings, the reported Garuda stake and published ranges of $120 million to $130 million. If the Garuda listing goes ahead, this entry could move up.
1. Sachin Tendulkar: about $165 million
Tendulkar retired from international cricket in 2013 and the income has not stopped. Brand deals pay him to be Sachin Tendulkar, which they have done for three decades. The startup record shows the second engine: he has six disclosed startup rounds in the dataset we checked, five of them in the used-car platform Spinny, plus reported holdings in JetSynthesys and Smartron.
The estimate sits in the $150 million to $170 million band that published ranges converge on. We take the upper half of the band because his endorsement income has run uninterrupted for decades and his startup bets have had time to compound.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
Kohli took over the top spot in IPL career earnings in a May 2026 study, with ₹230.2 crore, ahead of Rohit at ₹227.2 crore and Dhoni at ₹200.3 crore. Pant set the auction record at ₹27 crore in November 2024, then went back to Delhi at ₹15 crore in June 2026. On the business side, Dhoni’s reported Garuda stake moved from a private holding toward a possible public listing, and Kohli’s apparel bet is the cautionary tale of the group.
What drives these fortunes
- Endorsements beat salary. A central contract in the top grade pays ₹7 crore a year, which is about $0.7 million. Brand deals pay several times that.
- Longevity. Tendulkar’s lead comes from 13 years of retirement income, not from a bigger peak.
- Equity. The cricketers who bought into startups early have the only line item that can jump by an order of magnitude.
- The IPL. A single franchise league pays as much to a top Indian player as a decade of international cricket.
Why the published numbers disagree
Indian outlets quote Kohli anywhere from ₹1,050 crore to ₹1,250 crore, and the spread comes from three choices: whether IPL pay is counted before or after tax, whether unlisted startup stakes are marked at the last funding round, and which exchange rate converts the result. A move from ₹90 to ₹95 per dollar shifts a ₹1,200 crore fortune by about $7 million. We state the rate we use and keep unlisted stakes at a haircut, because a funding round is a price someone offered, not a price anyone paid for the whole stake.
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Who is the richest cricketer in the world?
Sachin Tendulkar, at about $165 million by our estimate as of October 2026.
Who is the richest active cricketer?
Virat Kohli, at roughly $125 million, ahead of Dhoni who is also still playing in the IPL.
Who has earned the most in the IPL?
Kohli, with about ₹230 crore (roughly $24 million) through 2026, then Rohit Sharma at ₹227 crore and Dhoni at ₹200 crore.
Is any cricketer a billionaire?
No cricketer on our list is close. The top estimate is about $165 million.
Who is the richest cricketer outside India?
Brian Lara, at about $60 million by our estimate, ahead of Shane Warne at about $54 million.
How accurate are cricketer net worth figures?
They are estimates. We build them from disclosed earnings and stakes and publish a range where the data is thin.
How we put this list together
We ranked cricketers by estimated net worth, compiled in an internal valuation model from league earnings, central contracts, disclosed startup rounds and published stakes. Figures are approximate, change over time and use about ₹95 to the dollar.
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Last updated: October 2026.
