Everybody knows that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who guided Mumbai to victory in his last Ranji Trophy match on Wednesday and is scheduled to retire after playing the 200th test match of his career on his home ground, is India’s richest cricketer.

But exactly how big is Tendulkar’s retirement kitty? Wealth-X, a research firm which tracks the super rich – called ‘ultra high net worth’ individuals in banking parlance – has put his personal fortune at $160 million – a shade over Rs 979 crore.

According to the Wealth-X study, which it does in association with Swiss bank UBS, the “Little Master” has amassed a fortune that eclipses the combined net worth of the four other cricketers on the list, and is more than three times the net worth of the next wealthiest player, his (and Team India) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dhoni has been estimated to be worth $50 million (Rs 306 crore), about what the next two, Yuvraj Singh ($30 million) and Rahul Dravid ($20 million) have combined. The Singapore-based Wealth-X does not disclose its methodology, but says it is based on “hand-curated” intelligence.

Tendulkar top-scoring in the Indian sports rich list is not a surprise. However, other estimates of his wealth have merely focussed on his annual earnings. The Forbes list of richest sportspersons estimated his current year earnings at $22 million (Rs 235 crore), putting him at the 55th position in the list of richest athletes. Dhoni, on the other hand, is at No. 16 on the same list, with current year earnings of nearly Rs 193 crore.

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