Highest earning cricketers

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni 

Earnings: $10 million

Primary Club Team: Chennai Super Kings

National Team: India

Major Sponsors: Reebok, GE Money, Pepsi 

M.S. Dhoni's $8 million of endorsement income over the last year is more than baseball's Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard, combined.

2. Sachin Tendulkar 

Earnings: $8 million

Primary Club Team: Mumbai Indians

National Team: India

Major Sponsors: Adidas, Canon, Royal Bank of Scotland 

Tendulkar, widely considered one of the greatest batsman in cricket history, is one of five IPL cricketers with "icon" status, meaning he's exempt from the league's player auction and instead automatically receives a paycheck 15% larger than his highest paid Mumbai teammate.

3. Yuvraj Singh 

Earnings: $5.5 million

Primary Club Team: Kings XI Punjab

National Team: India

Major Sponsors: Fiat, Reebok, Microsoft 

Singh earned $4 million over the last 12 months from endorsements and other commercial ventures off the field, including providing a voice in the animated film Jumbo, his Bollywood debut.

4. Rahul Dravid 

Earnings: $5 million

Primary Club Team: Royal Challengers Bangalore 

National Team: India

Major Sponsors: Castrol, Reebok

A former International Cricket Council Player of the Year, Dravid earns slightly over $1 million annually from Bangalore as one of the IPL's five icon players.

5. Andrew Flintoff 

Earnings: $4 million

Primary Club Team: Chennai Super Kings 

National Team: England

Major Sponsors: Puma, Volkswagen, Barclays 

Flintoff will retire from five-day national team competition next month and is doing his best to go out on top: In July he bowled England to its first Test victory in 75 years over Australia at Lord's, cricket's most storied venue.

6. (Tie) Sourav Ganguly 

Earnings: $3.5 million

Primary Club Team: Kolkata Knight Riders

National Team: India*

Major Sponsors: Puma, Pepsi

Ganguly, captain of the IPL's Knight Riders, ranks fourth all-time in runs on India's national team, a squad he used to also captain. 

*Retired from national team play in 2008.

6. (Tie) Ricky Ponting 

Earnings: $3.5 million

Primary Club Team: Kolkata Knight Riders*

National Team: Australia

Major Sponsors: Valvoline, KFC, Adidas

Ponting has slowly shed his bad boy image to become one of Australia's most marketable athletes, earning more than $2 million in commercial endorsements over the last 12 months. 

*Did not play in the IPL in 2009.

8. (Tie) Brett Lee 

Earnings: $3 million

Primary Club Team: Kings XI Punjab

National Team: Australia

Major Sponsors: Gatorade, Volkswagen

One of the fastest bowlers in cricket history, Lee was once clocked at 99.9 miles per hour on the radar gun, just shy of Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar's record of 100 mph.

8. (Tie) Kevin Pietersen 

Earnings: $3 million

Primary Club Team: Royal Challengers Bangalore 

National Team: England

Major Sponsors: Red Bull, Vodafone, Adidas

Bangalore purchased the rights to Pietersen at auction for a record $1.55 million annual salary--a sum that's tied with Chennai's Flintoff as the highest auction price in the IPL's two year history.

10. Michael Clarke 

Earnings: $2.5 million

Primary Club Team: New South Wales Blues*

National Team: Australia

Major Sponsors: Gillette, Slazenger

Clarke is the highest-profile cricketer who has yet to join the IPL, instead preferring to leave money on the table and play club matches in his native Australia. 

*Australian first-class cricket team, also known as RTA SpeedBlitz Blues.

Read More

Indians nominated for ICC Awards

India's splendid run in Test and one-day cricket in the past one year was today amply reflected in the ICC's Annual Awards nominations as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and nine other cricketers were listed in various categories.  Mahendra Singh Dhoni was nominated in three categories -- ICC Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year awards Harbhajan Singh was nominated for the prestigious Cricketer of the Year award and Test Player of the Year award. Gautam Gambhir was nominated for the prestigious Cricketer of the Year award and Test Player of the Year award. Virender Sehwag was nominated for the ODI Player of the Year. Yuvraj Singh was nominated for the Test Player of the Year award along with ODI Player of the Year. VVS Laxman joined the trio of Dhoni, Gambhir and Harbhajan to be in the line for the Test Player of the Year award Zaheer Khan was nominated for Twenty20 Performer of the Year award. Amit Mishra will be vying for the honour in the Emerging Player of the year category. Mithali Raj was nominated for the Women's Cricketer of the year award. Priyanka Roy was nominated for the Women's Cricketer of the year award.

Read More

Ashes fifth and final Test | Ashes Winner England

The England team celebrates on the podium after winning the Ashes.

Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke at the presentation ceremony.

Andrew Flintoff poses with the Ashes urn.

Andrew Strauss holds the Ashes urn in the dressing room with his family.

Mike Hussey celebrates after reaching his hundred.

Andrew Flintoff celebrates with his team mates after he run out Ricky Ponting.

Graeme Swann celebrates the wicket of Simon Katich on the fourth day

(AFP Photo)" border="0" title="England's Jonathan Trott celebrates his maiden Test hundred on Saturday. (AFP Photo)" class="whiteimgbor" style="border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; ">

England's Jonathan Trott celebrates his maiden Test hundred on Saturday.

Andrew Flintoff walks off after being dismissed in his final Test. 

Ricky Ponting walks off the field after being hit by a ball. 

Read More