The return of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to the Vijay Hazare Trophy has injected renewed interest into India’s premier domestic one-day competition, prompting fans to look beyond performances and ask a more practical question: how much do India’s biggest stars actually get paid for featuring in the tournament?
While the Vijay Hazare Trophy remains the backbone of India’s domestic white-ball structure, its financial rewards are a far cry from the Indian Premier League (IPL). Despite their stature as global superstars and central BCCI-contracted players, Kohli and Rohit earn the same match fee as any other domestic veteran under the board’s tightly regulated pay structure.
Vijay Hazare Trophy salary rules: no star premiums
Unlike the IPL, where salaries are dictated by auctions and market value, payments in the Vijay Hazare Trophy follow a fixed, experience-based model. Match fees are determined solely by the number of List A appearances a player has made, leaving no room for star premiums or special exemptions.
Players with over 40 List A matches fall into the senior category, earning ₹60,000 per match if named in the playing XI and ₹30,000 if included as reserves. Those with 21-40 matches receive ₹50,000 (playing XI) and ₹25,000 (reserves), while players with up to 20 matches earn ₹40,000 and ₹20,000 respectively.
Both Kohli, who is representing Delhi and Rohit, turning out for Mumbai, comfortably exceed the 40-match threshold. As a result, they earn ₹60,000 per match – identical to any other experienced domestic cricketer in the competition.
How it compares with BCCI contracts and other earnings
The figure is modest when placed alongside their national-team earnings. Under the BCCI’s pay structure, Kohli and Rohit earn ₹6 lakh per ODI, underlining the vast gap between international cricket and domestic tournaments in financial terms.
That said, match fees are not the only source of income in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Players are entitled to daily allowances covering travel, food and accommodation, while Man of the Match awards typically carry a cash prize of around ₹10,000 with Kohli, arguably one of the most identifiable cricketers in the world boasting an Instagram following of 274 million followers, also getting the same prize money for his Player of the Match performance. Teams advancing deep into the tournament also share prize money distributed among players and support staff.
Even with these add-ons, however, the earnings remain symbolic rather than lucrative for senior internationals. Kohli and Rohit’s participation, therefore, is less about money and more about maintaining competitive rhythm and lending stature to India’s domestic game, a boost that the Vijay Hazare Trophy can rarely command on its own.