IPL 2016 Highest Paid Players, Full List of IPL Season 9 Player Salaries
There are just two days left for the 2016 edition of the IPL to commence as we get ready for another gripping and entertaining season of T20 cricket. Quite a lot has changed since the previous IPL in 2015, the most prominent change being the absence of former champion sides Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, both of whom are facing a two-year suspension following the spot-fixing controversy.
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Taking their place are two new franchises, Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions, which ensures that the IPL remains an 8-team affair. Most of the players released by both the tainted franchises have found new teams, with some of the top names falling in the kitty of the two new joiners on the IPL team roster.
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While the Rising Pune Supergiants bagged the likes of MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin and Steven Smith, the Gujarat Lions acquired the services of players such as Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo and Brendon McCullum. All of these names feature in the list of the highest paid players in the ninth season of India's premier domestic T20 tournament.
Ace Indian batsman and Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper, Virat Kohli, is the highest paid cricketer on this list with an annual salary of INR 15 crore. Following him closely are his Team India mates MS Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan who have both pocketed a salary of INR 12.5 crore each.
As many as 11 Indian players are among the top 20 highest paid players in the 2016 edition of the IPL. Talking about the international cricketers who are part of the IPL, Keiron Pollard of the Mumbai Indians is the top earner with an annual salary package of INR 9.7 crore. RCB's AB de Villiers is in second position among the foreigners with an earning of INR 9.5 crore.
There are a few players on this list who have an inflated actual salary compared to the amount that their franchise shelled out on them initially. Some of the prominent names in this regard are Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu.
On the other hand, there are also some cricketers who receive a comparatively lesser salary than the amount they had fetched at the auction. This includes some popular players like Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, David Miller, Ravindra Jadeja and Brendon McCullum among others.
Here is the detailed list of highest paid/most expensive players in IPL 2016:
| Sr. No | Team | Player | Country | Purse Deduction (INR) | Actual Salary (INR) |
| 1 | RCB | Virat Kohli | India | 125,000,000.00 | 150,000,000.00 (15 cr) |
| 2 | SRH | Shikhar Dhawan | India | 125,000,000.00 | 125,000,000.00 (12.5 cr) |
| 3 | Team Pune | M S Dhoni | India | 125,000,000.00 | 125,000,000.00 (12.5 cr) |
| 4 | MI | Rohit Sharma | India | 125,000,000.00 | 115,000,002.00 (11.5 cr) |
| 5 | KKR | Gautam Gambhir | India | 125,000,000.00 | 100,000,000.00 (10 cr) |
| 6 | MI | Keiron Pollard | West Indies | 95,000,000.00 | 97,000,000.00 (9.7 cr) |
| 7 | RCB | AB de Villiers | South Africa | 95,000,000.00 | 95,000,000.00 (9.5 cr) |
| 8 | Team Rajkot | Suresh Raina | India | 125,000,000.00 | 95,000,000.00 (9.5 cr) |
| 9 | RCB | Chris Gayle | West Indies | 75,000,000.00 | 84,000,000.00 (8.4 cr) |
| 10 | MI | Lasith Malinga | Sri Lanka | 75,000,000.00 | 81,000,000.00 (8.1 cr) |
| 11 | KKR | Sunil Narine | West Indies | 95,000,000.00 | 80,000,000.00 (8 cr) |
| 12 | MI | Harbhajan Singh | India | 55,000,000.00 | 80,000,000.00 (8 cr) |
| 13 | Team Pune | Ajinkya Rahane | India | 95,000,000.00 | 80,000,000.00 (8 cr) |
| 14 | Team Pune | R Ashwin | India | 75,000,000.00 | 75,000,000.00 (7.5 cr) |
| 15 | MI | Ambati Rayudu | India | 40,000,000.00 | 60,000,000.00 (6 cr) |
| 16 | Team Rajkot | Ravindra Jadeja | India | 95,000,000.00 | 55,000,000.00 (5.5 cr) |
| 17 | Team Rajkot | James Faulkner | Australia | 55,000,000.00 | 51,000,000.00 (5.1 cr) |
| 18 | KXIP | David Miller | South Africa | 125,000,000.00 | 50,000,000.00 (5 cr) |
| 19 | Team Pune | Faf du Plessis | South Africa | 40,000,000.00 | 47,500,000.00 (4.75 cr) |
| 20 | Team Pune | Steven Smith | Australia | 55,000,000.00 | 40,000,000.00 (4 cr) |
| 21 | Team Rajkot | Dwayne Bravo | West Indies | 40,000,000.00 | 40,000,000.00 (4 cr) |
| 22 | Team Rajkot | Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | 75,000,000.00 | 32,500,000.00 (3.25 cr) |