The Asia Cup 2022 will commence later this week – on August 27, Saturday, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with Sri Lanka, who are official hosts of the tournament, taking on Afghanistan in the tournament opener. India and Pakistan will clash in the marquee game on Sunday.
India are the defending champions having won the tournament in 2018, and while the 2018 edition of the tournament was in ODI format, this year’s is in T20 format.
The six teams are divided into two groups with India, Pakistan and a qualifying team in Group A and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan forming Group B. Four teams will advance to the Super 4 round, and from there the top 2 teams will qualify for the final.
Five of the six teams are already confirmed: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan; the remaining team will be decided by the Qualifier in Oman where four teams – Kuwait, Hong Kong, UAE, and Singapore – are competing.
Here are the salaries of the captains in Asia Cup 2022 (we are only looking at contracts from boards and now brand endorsements):
Rohit Sharma
India skipper Rohit Sharma is one of the only three players in the BCCI Grade A+ central contract category – with the other two being Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. The annual retainership of Grade A+ BCCI cricketers is INR 7 crore!
Further, Rohit Sharma gets 15 lakhs to play a Test Match, 6 lakh for an ODI, 3 lakhs for a T20I.
Rohit had led India to the Asia Cup 2018 title, which was also in the UAE but it was in the ODI format.
Babar Azam
Unlike different grade categories overall, the Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] has introduced grades in two separate contracts- for red-ball and white-ball contracts.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam is obviously placed in the Category A in both contracts along with Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan. These players get PKR 1,050,000 per month (approx. US$4700) and PKR 950,000 (approx. US$4300) for a corresponding white-ball contract.
Now for international matches, all players receive match fees of 838,530 PKR (approx. US$3800) for a Test, 515,696 PKR for an ODI (approx. US$2300) and PKR 372,075 (approx. US$1700) for a T20I.
Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib Al Hasan has been once again handed the captaincy duties, taking over from all-rounder Mahmudullah.
Slotted in BCB’s A+ category, Shakib is reported to have an annual retainer of $57,000 from the BCB. For a Test match, the all-rounder receives $7,100, $3,600 for an ODI game and $2,400 for every T20I.
Dasun Shanaka
Sri Lankan captain and senior all-rounder Dasun Shanka is placed in the A1 category of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board which is the highest pay bracket of the SLC and in which he receives a $100,000 annual retainer. Wanindu Hasaranga, Dhananjaya de Silva, and Dushmantha Chameera are also in this A1 category.
Talking about match fees, there is no updated data made public about Sri Lankan players’ per match payment; however, according to reports from last year, they got $7500 for a Test match, $4000 per ODI, and $3000 per T20I.
Mohammad Nabi
Afghanistan had gone back to Mohammad Nabi as their captain last year and the senior all-rounder has continued in the role. Although Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is among the lowest paying boards, their captain Mohammad Nabi has a handsome retainer of 1 crore.
Afghanistan players are paid reportedly between $400 to $700 for their matches.
Squads of the five teams who have qualified for the main tournament:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan. Standbys: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (C), Najibullah Zadran (VC), Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujib ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rashid Khan and Samiullah Shinwari. Reserves: Nijat Masoud, Qais Ahmad, and Sharafuddin Ashraf
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (captain), Dhanushaka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanidu Hasaranga, Mahesh Theekshana, Jeffery Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrema, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana, Dinesh Chandimal, Nuwanindu Fernando and Kasun Rajitha
