Meet first cricketer to sign Rs 100 crore deal, he's not Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma

Indian cricketers can often seen promoting various brands. They earned thousands of crore for endorsing brands. Cricketers like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma charge a massive amount for endorsement. Such deals have skyrocketed for cricket stars in recent years. But do you know which cricketer signed the first Rs 100 crore deal? He is none other than Sachin Tendulkar, the former Team India captain. Back in 2001, the master blaster struck a never-heard-before Rs 100-crore deal with Mark Mascarenhas’s sports management firm WorldTel. Tendulkar became the most valuable cricketer ever at the time.

It was him who opened the gateway for Indian cricketers to become mega stars with immense brand value. Tendulkar's cricket career spanned over two decades. He retired from all forms of cricket in 2013. Tendulkar now endorses multiple brands which include some top names like ITC Savlon, Jio Cinema, BMW, Adidas and others.

After the start of IPL by BCCI in 2007, the brand value cricketer further hiked by a massive amount. Today, Virat Kohli is among the richest Indian cricketers with a net worth of over Rs 1,000 crore. The former skipper signed a Rs 110 crore deal with Puma. Moreover, another former skipper MS Dhoni signed many deals with big brands like Reliance, SBI, Oreo, India Cements, Dream11 and Reebok.