Dhoni world's top earning cricketer: Forbes

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has topped the list of world's 10 top earning cricketers compiled by Forbes, which also features

Dhoni and Sachin four other players from the sub-continent - Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

Raking in $10 million, Dhoni is at the top of the chart followed by Tendulkar at the second spot with earnings worth $8 million in the list of 'The World's Top-Earning Cricketers'.









While Singh and Dravid are at the third and fourth spot, respectively, Ganguly and Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting share the sixth place.

"Paycheck figures include club and national team salaries and commercial endorsement income over the last 12 months," Forbes said.

According to the magazine, Singh earned $5.5 million while Dravid and Ganguly raked in $5 million and $3.5 million, respectively. Ponting also earned $3.5 million.

"With its deep-pocketed owners and global appeal, nine of the 10 highest-paid cricket players call the Indian Premier League (IPL) home, the publication added.

At the fifth spot is England's Andrew Flintoff with earnings of $4 million followed by Australia's Brett Lee and English cricketer Kevin Pietersen - both at eighth place - and Australian Michael Clarke is ranked tenth.

While Lee and Pietersen raked in $3 million each, Clarke earned $2.5 million.











































"Take Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who plays for the Chennai Super Kings and tops our list as cricket's first $10 million-a-year man (that's $5,426 for each run scored).

"His $8 million in endorsements, from the likes of Reebok, General Electric and Pepsi, is 45 per cent more than any other player.

"Among all Indian athletes and entertainers, Dhoni's 17 corporate sponsors is second to only Bollywood star and co- owner of the Knight Riders, Shah Rukh Khan," Forbes said.

About Tendulkar, the magazine said the holder of numerous offensive records, is considered among the greatest batsman in cricket history.

"... he's one of five IPL players who have been bestowed 'icon' status, meaning he automatically receives a paycheck 15 per cent larger than his highest paid teammate.

"Tendulkar's $ 1.1 million salary from the Mumbai Indians helped push his total earnings to $8 million over the last 12 months," it added.

Ganguly likely to be KKR captain again

Sources say that former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly could be made as the Kolkata Knight Riders captain for the IPL season3 due to the non-availability of Brendun Mccullum.

Sources also say that Ganguly and the KKR franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan had a meeting in London to discuss on the captaincy of Kolkata Knight Riders.

It is to be noted that controversy-ridden Knight Riders finished at the bottom of the table in IPL 2009 season by floating the idea of 'multiple captaincy' to replace Ganguly with Brendun McCullum a day before the tournament that started in South Africa.

With Brendun McCullum finding it tough to inspire his struggling team and due to his national duties sources reveal that KKR management has decided to replace the Prince of Kolkata as their captain.

Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali at Wimbledon

Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali attend the men's final tennis match between Switzerland's Roger Federer and US Andy Roddick on Day 13 at the 2009 Wimbledon tennis championships at the All England Club. The event, the third Grand Slam tournament of 2009 runs from June 22 to July 5, 2009.