IPL 2021 Auction: MS Dhoni is set to become the first player to earn more than Rs 150 crore as salary in Indian Premier League. Dhoni is certain to play for the Chennai Super Kings in the 2021 season as the CSK skipper said so himself during the toss ahead of their final league game against Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2020. Moreover, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan earlier confirmed that Dhoni will lead the team in IPL 2021.
“Yes, definitely. I am very confident that Dhoni will lead CSK in 2021. He has won three titles for us in the IPL. This is the first year we have not qualified for the playoffs. No other team has done that. One bad year does not mean we will have to change everything,” Viswanathan told The Times of India during IPL 2020.
It should be noted that at present Dhoni’s contract with CSK is worth whopping Rs 15 crores and he has till date earned 137.8 crores. With CSK set to retain him for Rs 15 crores in IPL 2021, Dhoni will cross the Rs 150-crore salary mark in IPL and will become the first player to do so.
MS Dhoni IPL Salary From 2008 to 2020
| Year | Team | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 (Retain) |  Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 150,000,000 |
| 2019 (Retain) | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 150,000,000 |
| 2018 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 150,000,000 |
| 2017 |  Rising Pune Supergiant |
₹ 125,000,000 |
| 2016 | Rising Pune Supergiant |
₹ 125,000,000 |
| 2015 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 125,000,000 |
| 2014 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 125,000,000 |
| 2013 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 82,800,000 |
| 2012 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 82,800,000 |
| 2011 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 82,800,000 |
| 2010 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 60,000,000 |
| 2009 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 60,000,000 |
| 2008 | Chennai Super Kings |
₹ 60,000,000 |
| Total | ₹ 1,378,400,000 | |
Meanwhile, Dhoni is followed by Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli who have earned a total of ₹ 131.6 crores and Rs 126.2 crores respectively in salaries over 13 years in his IPL journey.
Rohit Sharma: The Hitman is the 2nd highest earning IPL player. Rohit has earned a total of ₹ 131.6 crores as IPL salary so far. He started his IPL career with Deccan Chargers, but the star batsman has been associated with Mumbai Indians (MI) since 2011. Notably, Rohit Sharma was retained by the Reliance group-owned Mumbai Indians (MI) for ₹ 15 crores in IPL 2020, a 400% jump from the inaugural season salary of ₹3 crores.
IPL 2020 Salary – Rs 15 crores
IPL Moneyball Rank – 2
IPL Total Moneyball Salary – 131.6 Crores
IPL 2020 Team – Mumbai Indians (MI)
IPL Runs – 5230
Virat Kohli: The RCB skipper is the 3rd highest earning IPL player. Virat kohli has earned a total of ₹ 126.2 crores in salaries over 13 years in his IPL journey. Notably, he was retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team for ₹ 17 crores in IPL 2020, a 14000% jump from the inaugural season salary of ₹12 L.
IPL 2020 Salary – 17
IPL Moneyball Rank – 3
IPL Total Moneyball Salary – 126.2 Crores
IPL 2020 Team – Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
IPL Runs – 5878
Note: The above analysis has been done using InsideSport’s Moneyball, a tool to calculate professional salaries of the players in Indian domestic tournaments, especially the players participating in IPL.