National team skipper Virat Kohli, senior batsman Rohit Sharma and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah have been included in the top most category of the Board of Control for India's (BCCI) list of central contracts.
These three players in the A+ category receive Rs 7 crore each. Kohli, who became the fastest to reach the milestone of 10,000 One-Day International (ODI) runs last year, reportedly earned an estimated $20 million from brand endorsements.
Rohit Sharma, who recently crossed the 8,000-run mark in ODIs, reportedly makes around $8.6 million from brand endorsements.
Bumrah, the top-ranked ODI bowler in the ICC rankings, claimed 78 Test wickets, 22 ODI wickets and 8 T20I wickets in 2018.
Introduced for the first time last year, Kohli, Sharma, Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have made it to the 'A+' category in 2018. Kumar and Dhawan have now been demoted from the top bracket to the 'A' category.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant are the other players in the 'A' category.
The players in this category are paid Rs 5 crore per year.
The 'B' category, which is worth Rs 3 crore annualy, includes Lokesh Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya.
Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed and Wriddhiman Saha are in the 'C' category and take home Rs 1 crore each.
