The Board of Control for Cricket fixes the salaries of the cricketers based on their performance.
The players are divided into various grades: A+, A, B, and C. Here's what each grade players get:
Grade A+: Rs 7 crore per year;
Grade A: Rs 5 crore per year;
Grade B: Rs 3 crore per year;
Grade C: Rs 1 crore per year.
Barring this fixed pay, the players also get money when they play a Test Match, ODI, and Twenty20. For a Test match, each player gets Rs 15 lakhs, ODI Rs 6 lakhs and for T-20 a player gets Rs 3 lakhs. Irrespective of which grade a player belongs, if a player scores a century in an ODI or test match, he gets Rs five lakh as a bonus. If a double century, the player gets Rs 7 lakhs. When a player takes five wickets, he gets Rs five lakh as a bonus.
Indian Women Cricketers, who have recently got the limelight after reaching the World Cup Final in 2018, managed to land up into some good deals with the top Indian women cricketers like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Smriti Mandhana are placed in the top grade for the Women category, the Grade “A”, which will earn them 50 Lakhs per year. The others in Grade “B” & Grade “C” will earn 30 Lakhs & 10 Lakhs respectively.
The logic behind the grade contract salary was to play more and get paid more. The five in question are indispensable in all three formats right now. They deserved to be paid more. Also, Ravi Shastri, Kohli, and Dhoni have been taken into confidence.
Moreover, the logic behind picking category A players, the official said, “The second group comprises players who are certain to be in at least one format like Saha and Pujara. They are in the second group because of their dependability in at least one format."
Some of the players of the men's Indian cricket team with respect to the various grades are as follows:
Grade A+: Players: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.
Grade A: Players: MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant.
Grade B: Players: KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya.
Grade C: Players: Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Khalil Ahmed, Wriddhiman Saha.
BCCI also gives performance-based bonuses. If a player scores half or full century against a top-ranked team, he may get a hike of 30-60% in his salary. It is clear that BCCI awards different bonuses based on achievements. Further, on retirement, it also provides a pension. Thus the revenue figures mentioned above shows that cricket has huge money and fame as compared to other sports in India.
This year in 2020, the officials don't want to make any high-paying appointments right now. Moreover, none of the existing professionals will be entitled to a pay hike next year. It goes without saying that the Indian cricketers will not see any pay cuts.