Indian Cricketers Salaries 2026 - BCCI Central Contract and Match Fees Decoded. By CricketBinge Desk • Published March 12, 2026 • player Share: Facebook Twitter The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has the most lucrative remuneration system in international cricket. Indian cricket players earn via the central contracts, match fees, performance bonuses, league contracts such as the IPL or WPL and endorsements. In the 2025-26 contract cycle, one of the main changes that the BCCI announced was eliminating the Grade A+ category from the men’s central contracts. The structure now has three salary grades in existence, namely, A, B, and C. The contracts cover the period from October 2025 to September 2026, and encompasses both men and women teams. Central Contract Salary Structure of BCCI for Men’s Team. BCCI classifies players according to performance, experience and participation across various formats. Contract Grade Annual Salary Grade A ₹5 Crore Grade B ₹3 Crore Grade C ₹1 Crore Top Players by Contract Grade. Grade Key Players Grade A Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja Grade B Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Washington Sundar Grade C Axar Patel, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana and others These annual retainers are independent of the match fees implying that players earn extra money each time they play for India. Indian Cricketers Match Fees. The match fees for both men and women teams are the same across international matches. Format Match Fee Test Match ₹15 Lakh ODI ₹6 Lakh T20I ₹3 Lakh The BCCI introduced this equal pay policy on match fees in 2022, thus ensuring parity between men’s and women’s cricket. Players that are included in the squad but fail to feature as the playing XI get half the match fee. Salary Structure of Indian Women Cricket Team. While women cricketers receive equal match fees, their annual retainers are lower than men’s contracts. Contract Grade Annual Salary Grade A ₹50 Lakh Grade B ₹30 Lakh Grade C ₹10 Lakh Best Female players according to contact grade. Grade Players Grade A Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues Grade B Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana Grade C Radha Yadav, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry and others Women's contracts are between ₹10 lakh and ₹50 lakh per annum depending on the grade. Extra income for Indian Cricketers. Besides BCCI contracts, players get huge income out of: IPL and Women Premier League (WPL) Contracts. Brand endorsements and sponsorships. Performance bonuses Participation in international leagues. League payments and endorsements in many cases may be higher than national team salaries in case of star players. Total number of players in the central contract list of the BCCI. For the 2025-26 cycle, the BCCI awarded contracts to 21 women’s players and 30 men’s players. Conclusion The central contract system of the BCCI provides financial security to the Indian cricketers while rewarding consistent performance. Having introduced equal match fee for men and women and contract grade system, the system continues to evolves as Indian cricket ushers in a new era with stars such as Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Smriti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur taking the lead.
