P V Sindhu's first brand endorsement deal beats Dhoni, Kohli's

P V Sindhu's silver medal at the Rio Olympics continues to bring in fortunes for the athlete, with the Badminton star now signing a three-year deal worth Rs 50 crore with sports management company Baseline.

Baseline will now manage Sindhu's branding profile, licensing, endorsements, etc, according to a TOI report. The company said that 16 companies are keen to sign Sindhu to endorse their products, and that she is in the final stages of signing with nine brands. While this is the highest-ever for any non-cricket player, even cricket players have failed to sign such a big deal as their first brand endorsements.

One of Virat Kohli's earliest brand endorsement deals was Nike worth Rs 1.42 crore from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, according to a PTI report. As of March 2016, Kohli has endorsements with 13 brands including Adidas, Boost, Audi, Colgate-Palmolive, Herbalife, MRF, Nitesh Estates, PepsiCo, Smaash, Tissot, TVS Motors, United Spirits and Vicks.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni had signed his first endorsement deal with Kolkata-based celebrity management company Gameplan Sports for an estimated Rs 8 crore as early as April 2005. Currently, Dhoni's brand endorsements are worth $27 million (Rs 179.62 crore), according to Forbes Magazine. While Dhoni's endorsement fees currently are at Rs 1.5 crore for a day, for annual contracts it is around Rs 8 crore, according to a Business Insider report.