The business magazine Forbes placed Mahendra Singh Dhoni at No.16 on the list of top highly paid athletes which is spearheaded by Tiger Woods. The Indian cricket star’s earnings were reckoned at $31.5 million. On the other hand, the US golfer’s earnings were marked at $78.1 million over the last year from prize money, appearance fees, endorsements and golf course design work.
Actually, Woods' revival from the controversies propelled his prize money over the last 12 months to $13.1 million. Precisely, the total amount has doubled since last year. Currently, the American golfer has 78 career PGA Tour wins which is just four short of the all-time record hauled by Sam Snead.
Tennis star Roger Federer grabs the second position on the list with earnings marked at $71.5 million.
The third position is dominated by US basketball champion Kobe Bryant with an income of $61.9 million over the past 12 months. In fact, Bryant had the highest salary in the NBA for the third consecutive year during the 2012-13 season.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has led India to the T20 World Cup in the inaugural tournament and followed up that with the 50 overs World Cup, climbed up 15 positions this year after being placed in 31st position in 2012. The business magazine calculated that Dhoni earned $31.5 million over the last year from prize money and endorsements. The other Indian in the top 100 who was ranked 51st with an estimated earnings of $22 million is Sachin Tendulkar.
The Forbes list also displays three women French Open defending champion Maria Sharapova who grabbed 22nd rank with earnings of $29 million while Serena Williams hauled 68th place with $20.5 million and China's Li Na graded 85th with overall earnings of $18.2 million.
Of course, the Indian captain is on this list and far away in the UK for the Champions Trophy leading the Indian team but back home the current conflict of interest and IPL spot-fixing scam that Dhoni avoids with a smile has affected his reputation very badly. In a stunning disclosure on Monday, a leading Indian business daily reported that Dhoni has 15% stake in a sports marketing firm that manages him as well as three other Indian cricketers.
Ranking Dhoni at the 16th position in the list is courtesy that his reputation is as cool and collected as captain that has helped India to win a number of matches adding to the 31-year-old's endorsement demand.
