Shikhar Dhawan trumps Dhoni, Kohli, receives 1300 per cent hike in player contract

Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the player contracts with addition of new category A+, which will see the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.

These five cricketers will now receive Rs 7 crores annually. While the likes of MS Dhoni and R Ashwin were relegated from the top bracket, the two, along with Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Wridhhiman Saha, will receive Rs 5 crores annually.

Almost all the top Indian stars made a big jump in terms of money allotted to them as per the new player contracts. While Kohli moved from Rs 2 crores to 7 crores and Dhoni moved from Rs 2 crores to Rs 5 crores, the current and former Indian skippers, along with everyone else in the list, lost out to Shikhar Dhawan, in terms of the percentage of hike from the money they received as per the their previous contract.

Dhawan was in “Category C” and earned Rs 50 lakh annually as per BCCI’s previous contract. However, with the announcement new player contracts, the southpaw has now received a whopping 1300 per cent hike in the new player contract. Dhawan, who previously earned Rs 50 lakh a year, will now receive approximately Rs 58 lakh/month and Rs 7 crores annually.

While Dhawan was dropped from the squad before the Indian Premier League 9IPL) 2017, he has turned the tide and how. But after being picked as injured KL Rahul’s replacement in India’s ICC Champions Trophy 2017 squad, Dhawan had enjoyed a fruitful run. He was the Man of the Tournament in the Champions Trophy, had a decent run in Tests at home and in Sri Lanka, was the second highest run-getter in six-match ODI series in South Africa and was the leading run-getter in the three-match Twenty20 series against the JP Duminy-led Proteas.