Doha: Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, former skipper MS Dhoni, retired great Sachin Tendulkar and ODI vice captain Rohit Sharma, all made it to the list of India’s biggest earning celebrities, according to Forbes India.
Kohli has been in top form on the cricket field in 2018 and that success has resulted in him becoming the richest sportsperson in the 2018 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list.
‘King Kohli’ is only behind bollywood superstar Salman Khan among all celebrities.
Kohli jumped one spot to the second rank, with total earnings of Rs 228.1 crore ($32m), a sharp increase of 116.53 percent from the previous year, the Hindustan Times said.
Kohli, who recorded earnings of Rs 100.72 crore ($14.2m) last year, finished second in the overall celebrities list. The Indian captain has boosted his earnings mostly through advertisement contracts, Hindustan Times said.
Actor Khan’s earnings were recorded as Rs 253.25 crore ($35.8m).
In the sportspersons list, Dhoni and Tendulkar have taken the second and third spots respectively. Even though Tendulkar has been retired for the last five years, he has still managed to hold his position in the top three.
Sharma has earned Rs. 31.49 crore ($4.5m) within the year.
Badminton stars PV Sindhu (fourth) and Saina Nehwal (20th) have also found themselves among the top earning sportspersons in the top celebrities’ list.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and batsman Manish Pandey, who found a place in the Forbes list for the first time, is at the 60th and 77th place respectively.
The 2018 Forbes India Celebrity 100 List rankings are based on estimates of entertainment-related earnings of celebrities. The period under consideration is October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.
