Meet India’s richest cricketer, once rented his Mumbai apartment to Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, not Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni or Rohit Sharma
Cricket is one of the richest sports in the country and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are without a doubt the richest cricketing body in the world. It is no surprise that the richest cricketer in the world hails from India but people will be surprised that it is not Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar or even current skipper Rohit Sharma.
The richest Indian cricketer is actually a royal family member – Samarjitsinh Ranjitsinh Gaekwad – who has net worth of over Rs 20,000 crore way ahead of Sachin Tendulkar’s Rs 1,427 crore and MS Dhoni’s 932 crore net worth.
Samarjitsinh was born on April 25, 1967 to the royals Ranjitsinh Pratapsinh Gaekwad and Shubhanginiraje’s family in Baroda. He owns the biggest private mansion in the world – the Laxmi Vilas Palace.
He did his schooling from the prestigious ‘Doon School’ and went on to represent Baroda in six first-class matches between 1987 and 1989. He scored 119 runs in his career with a best of 65 runs.
Samarjitsinh and his uncle Sangramsinh Gaekwad resolved a long-standing inheritance battle in 2013 and Samarjitsinh took ownership of Laxmi Vilas Palace. He received inheritance funds totaling more than Rs 20,000 crores.
Apart from the luxurious Laxmi Vila, he is also in charge of the temples trust – which includes 17 temples in Gujarat and Banaras, Uttar Pradesh. Having joined the BJP in 2014, he has not participated in politics since 2017.
Samarjitsinh served as Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) president from 2013 to 2017. The BCA produced cricketers such as Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan for the national team.
On this date in 2012, took place the rajyabhishek, or coronation, of Samarjitsinh Gaekwad as H.H. the Maharaja of Baroda. pic.twitter.com/odHsYjA51m
— Royal Archives (@oroyalarchives) June 22, 2022
Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma rented Samarjitsinh Gaekwad’s Mumbai apartment
A few years after former India captain Virat Kohli and his Bollywood star wife Anushka Sharma got married and decided to shift base to Mumbai in 2022, the couple rented Samarjitsinh Gaekwad’s apartment in Mumbai. According to Indian Express newspaper, Kohli and Anushka rented a 1,650 square feet apartment in Juhu for Rs 2.76 month per month rent from Samarjitsinh.
Kohli paid a deposit of Rs 7.50 lakh for the 1,650 sq ft flat, according to a copy of the leave and licence agreement obtained by Zapkey website, a platform that aggregates publicly available property registration data.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter is the fourth-richest cricket in the world behind Samarjitsinh, Tendulkar and Dhoni with a net worth of Rs 772 crore. Kohli has moved out of this Juhu apartment and now owns another apartment in Mumbai worth Rs 34 crore.