List Of Players Who Earned More Than MS Dhoni In An IPL Season

Despite the thirteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) getting postponed by a fortnight, the excitement is alive. Hence, when it starts, Australia’s Pat Cummins would form the centre of attention due to being the most expensive overseas pick in history.

Kolkata Knight Riders secured his services for a record-breaking sum of INR 15.5 crores.

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Admittedly, he couldn’t breach past Yuvraj Singh’s price of INR 16 crores; however, he would earn more than stalwarts like MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.

The veteran Indian captains like Rohit Sharma, Dhoni, and Virat Kohli have been retained by their franchises for INR 15 crores ahead of the upcoming season.

The 26-year old fast bowler holds the lead over Dhoni and Rohit in terms of making monetary gains in 2020.

However, it turns out that he is not the only player to earn more than Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a single IPL season.

Below is the list of players who have made more than the three-time IPL winner:

Virat Kohli (Since 2018)

Indian captain and the skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore, has been earning more than any cricketer in the lucrative competition for two years now. He is set to become the most paid player in the league once again in 2020.

Although the 31-year old hasn’t won an IPL even a single time, he is the leading run-getter in the history with 5412 runs.

RCB retained their leader for INR 15 crores ahead of 2018 IPL auction. A franchise mandatorily had to pay 15 crores for keeping the first player on its list; however, the owners had to give two crores more for making him stay.

Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff (2009)

In the second year of the tournament, it moved on entirely to South Africa. After MS Dhoni finished the most expensive player in 2008 by bagging USD 1.5 million, the English cricketing duo broke the record. Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen snapped a deal of USD 1.55 million.

The former joined Dhoni’s army while Bangalore secured Pietersen.

Contrary to their sum, the pair had a poor season. All-rounder Flintoff scored 62 runs and took two wickets in three games before a knee injury disrupted his campaign.

Pietersen had a lean run as well in which he managed only 93 runs in six matches as the captain of the side. After only six fixtures, he departed to fulfil his international duties.

Gautam Gambhir (2011)

After spending three years with Delhi Daredevils, the franchise released Gautam Gambhir. Kolkata Knight Riders sealed his deal at an amount of INR 11.04 crores ahead of the 2011 season. At that time, till three years, he was the costliest pick in the auction. CSK retained and paid USD 1.8 million to stay with them.

Kolkata made rapid progress under the Indian opening batsman. They reached the playoffs in 2011 while in 2012 and 2014, they were successful in lifting the trophy.

Gambhir was back to Delhi again in 2018 as KKR released him.

Ravindra Jadeja (2012)

Until Ravindra Jadeja joined Chennai Super Kings, he endured a stop-start campaign.

Ahead of 2012, Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers engaged in battle before the yellow army sealed his deal for USD 2 million. Since 2012, he has taken 76 scalps for Chennai Super Kings.

Yuvraj Singh (2014)

At a time when Yuvraj Singh struggled to make his international chances count, Royal Challengers Bangalore stood up for him.

The franchise shelled INR 14 crores for him and the southpaw too repaid their faith by slamming 376 runs that year.

He also picked up five wickets to go with. However, the team managed only five victories out of 14 fixtures. Nevertheless, Bangalore had released him ahead of the next season.

Chennai Super Kings remitted INR 12.5 crores to make him stay.

Yuvraj Singh (2015)

For the second successive year, Yuvraj Singh breached became the most expensive player in the auction.

After securing a deal of INR 14 crores from RCB for 2014 season, the Punjab all-rounder went on to pocket 16 crores from Delhi Daredevils. The price of 16 crores stands the highest till date.

However, Yuvraj endured a horror run throughout the 2015 edition.

Having played all the games, the left-handed batsman could only manage 249 runs at an average of 19.15 while maintaining a strike rate of 118.57.

Ben Stokes (2017)

Ben Stokes was one of the few players, who entirely justified the heavy price shelled out on him. Ahead of the 2017 season, the New Zealand-born all-rounder entered the auction for the first time and became a demand for most of the franchises.

Rising Pune Supergiants emerged successful in roping him in at a sum of INR 14.5 crores which were more than Dhoni’s price.

The amount of INR 14.5 crores also made him the costliest overseas pick until Pat Cummins’s 15.5 crores left him behind.

Stokes bagged the man of the tournament award in 2017 for scoring 316 runs and taking 12 wickets. In the final against Mumbai Indians, Pune badly missed Stokes’ presence as they fell short by one run.

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