Steven Smith and David Warner to Earn More in IPL than for Australia

The franchise-based teams in the cash-rich Indian Premium League have announced the list of retained players ahead of the mega-auction scheduled to take place on January 27 and 28. The list has doubled the salary of Australian skipper Steven Smith and his deputy David Warner.

Both the batsmen were top of the retention list for their respective franchises when the announcements were made yesterday.

Sunrisers Hyderabad retained their skipper David Warner, who led the side to a title victory in 2016. The swashbuckling opener is the highest run-scorer among the overseas players with more than 4000 runs.

Steven Smith was the only player retained by the Rajasthan Royals, who returned to the league after serving a ban for two years. Smith represented Rising Pune Super Giants in their absence. Steven Smith expressed his excitement after being retained by his franchise.

Both the cricketers are now set to pocket a lumpsum $2.4million each courtesy of being the top retentions for their team. This is double the amount they received in the last edition and is approximately more than they earn through their central contracts with Cricket Australia.

Smith and Warner are currently on $2m, and $1.4m earn respectively for their national team. The duo now becomes the highest paid Australian cricketers in the history of the competition.

With the retained players list now announced, all eyes will be on the mega-auction where the likes of Ben Stokes, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Gayle and Colin Munro will all be among the main attractions.

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