Are IPL players underpaid? What does stats say?

While the Indian Premier league is considered as the most lucrative cricket league in the world, former Indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund claimed that players are "grossly underpaid" in this league. On Friday, in an interview with The Great Indian Cricket Show, he explained the confusion, citing the gross earnings of the IPL compared to the other leagues.

He compared the IPL with other major leagues involving sports like baseball and F1 and said that the cricketers really don't get as much as the players earn in those leagues. In the interview, Mukund said,

“I feel IPL players are grossly underpaid. Listen, hear me out. Because the valuation of the league is so high. And if you look at other leagues around the world, the economics of it, you take baseball, you take F1, you can take any of these guys. In comparison to that, 20 crores or 25 crores is actually not that much. If you look at it in that way."

He added,

"If you are saying IPL is one of the top 4-5 leagues in the world, your players should also be paid like the top 4-5. It’s not even in the top 10 or top 20. And if a player is in the top 10, that is because of all the other endorsements. Not because of the IPL salary. So the salary should not be capped. I feel that IPL players could be paid more."

The former Chennai Super Kings also gave a statistical overview on how the players earn much less than what a franchise earns every year. Mukund noted,

“An IPL team gets about 400 to 500 crores a year is what I have read, in the reports. I think at least about 100 to 120 crore that they are spending, there should be a little more, maybe double of that as the salary cap. Maybe 200-250 crores."

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How is Abhinav Mukund statistically correct?

Mukund’s observation isn’t entirely misplaced. Available estimates suggest that IPL cricketers receive roughly 8.5% of the league’s total revenue. By contrast, in the English Premier League, the wage structure accounts for nearly 63% of overall earnings.

That said, the comparison needs context. Footballers in the EPL are involved in a 38-match season, competing almost every week across several months. IPL players, on the other hand, participate in a much shorter window of around two months, with most featuring in approximately 14 to 16 matches in a season.

The argument, however, carries more weight when viewed through the lens of central contracts. The Board of Control for Cricket in India generates an annual revenue close to ₹4,000 crore—largely tax-exempt—primarily driven by the IPL. Despite that, the total outlay on player retainerships under central contracts runs into only a few hundred crores, pointing to a significant imbalance in distribution.