We live in a nation that considers cricket as a separate religion. Whether it’s men’s cricket or women’s cricket, we love to watch every ball from time to time. Because of our interest, cricket in India attracts a lot of viewership, and because of which money comes with it. There is indeed a large pay gap between men and women cricket teams, but that doesn’t mean we should not learn how much the top women cricketers earn and the richest Indian women cricketers.
The Indian women’s cricket team is playing some fantastic cricket and chasing top amazing records now and then. It’s just a matter of time until we see Indians winning a major tournament. We have many talented players like Smriti, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj, Shefali Verma, and others. We know that curiosity has already itched in your minds in finding out, how BCCI treats these talented players in terms of money? Indeed, they are not paid like the men’s cricket team, but it all depends on the category’s popularity. Still, it doesn’t stop us from finding out the richest female cricketers in India.
Now before you can say, Jack Robinson, let us straight away jump on the list of some of the top richest Indian women cricketers and their earnings.
1. Mithali Raj
We are pretty sure no one is amazed to find out that it’s Mithali Raj, the richest female cricketer from India. She is a living legend and still serving the Indian Cricket team. Often regarded as the Tendulkar of women’s cricket, she is also the leading run-scorer in Women’s ODI history and India’s highest run-getter in WT20Is. Raj is under the Grade A contract offered from BCCI, which gives 50 Lakhs right into her pocket. To be honest, she deserves much more than that. However, being the best cricketer comes with outside blessings, which are known as brands and endorsements.
Currently, Mithali endorses New Zealand-based bat makers known as Laver and Wood, under which Mithali gets 20 lakhs per year. Raj also promotes top businesses like Uber, American Tourister, Royal Challenge, and Rio Tinto’s Australian diamonds. She also promotes some top brands like Allen Solly, Fitness studio, Fast&Up India. Thanks to these endorsements, Mithali’s net worth is around $ 5.4 Million
2. Harmanpreet Kaur
Moving ahead with the list, next, we have a promising talent and current skipper of the Indian women’s cricket team for limited overs, Harmanpreet Kaur. She is also under a Grade A contract from BCCI because of her effective way of playing cricket. She came into the headlines when she scored 171 against mighty Aussies that too in the World Cup semi-final of 2017. However, India lost the final, but Harman attracted many brands and endorsements to her name.
She endorses CEAT and is the first Indian woman to have a sticker on her bat. She is also connected with ITC and a juice drink B-Natural. According to reports, Harmanpreet’s brand value is at 10-12 lakhs per day for a commercial appearance and 50 lakhs per year to endorse a brand. Her net worth is around $5.2 Million.
3. Smriti Mandhana
From one talent to another. Smriti Mandhana, or we should say, the national crush of India, is third on the richest women cricketers list. Just like the other top two earners, she is also under a Grade A contract from BCCI. Before being announced in team India, she was in the headlines after she smashed a double century against Gujarat in a One Day match. She has an impressive 2017 World Cup, and from that that she never looked back. She became the first overseas player to smash a hundred in the women’s Big Bash League a few days back. She also has several endorsements attached to her name.
Smriti promotes Alcon, a division of Novartis, for their innovative product AIR OPTIX plus Hydra-Glide contact lenses. Along with it, she also endorses Bata, Hero Motocorp, and Red Bull. As per the reports, Smriti charges 40-50 lakhs per year, and her net worth is around $5 Million
4. Jhulan Goswami
India’s pace bowler Jhulan Goswami is among the top earners on the list. If you do not know, then she is the world’s highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket by far and is the first female bowler to take 200 wickets.
Goswami has featured in 182 ODIs and 68 T20Is for team India and has picked up 321 wickets, out of which 225 are scalped in ODIs. Because of which is also under Grade A contract from the BCCI. The Padma Shri awardee cricketer’s net worth is approximately $ 1.5 Million.
5. Poonam Yadav
Poonam Yadav is fifth in the list of the highest-earning cricketers in India. This leg-break bowler has over 150 wickets in International cricket. She is also a recipient of the Arjuna Award and has a Grade B contract from the BCCI. Poonam made her debut in 2013 and has played 1 Test, 46 ODIs, and 67 T20Is for India. Her stellar performance in the World Cup earned her a WBBL contract for upcoming seasons. According to the reports, Poonam Yadav’s net worth is around $1.4 million.
These are some of the best highest earners among the Indian women’s cricket team. Apart from these top 5, other female cricketers earn a good amount from endorsements. Some of them are Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, and others.
Endnotes
Cricket is surely getting featured all over the globe, and these richest female cricketers are the prime examples of it. We will surely see many new names added to this list in the upcoming years as the talents like Jemimah Rodrigues, Sushma Verma, Punam Raut, Taniya Bhatia, Shefali Verma, Nuzhat Parveen, Mansi Joshi, Anuja Patil, and many others are not far behind. With further promotion of women’s cricket in India, we hope more female cricketers get paid better and snap better brand deals they deserve. We are sure it will and we will bring you the updated list of the richest Indian women cricketers for the next time.