Cricket is a cash-rich sport, it is unarguably one of the top sports in the world which involves a lot of money. Since Cricket was introduced it has just seen the growth chart move forward in the upwards direction. With the introduction of new formats of the game like T20 and T10, the money flows have just increased. Also, the T20 league which is hosted by several countries involves a lot of cash and rewards, as there are many sponsorships involved in the leagues. Notably, The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most cash-rich in the world of cricket.
Meanwhile, it has been seen that several players come into cricket from poor family backgrounds and with hard work and dedication they become millionaires. Especially in Asia cricket has immense popularity and cricketers earn a lot of fame and money from it. Meanwhile, in most of the cases, it has been players who come from weak family backgrounds.
However, in some rare cases, it has been seen some cricketers were very rich before entering the world of cricket. In this article, we have look at 5 players who entered cricket with a rich family background.
 #5 Vijay Merchant
Vijay Singh Madhavji Merchant is a former Indian cricketer who entered into cricket with rich family background. He was a right-handed batter and a part-time medium pacer. Other than cricket he was also associated with the Hindoostan Spinning & Weaving Mills (Thakersey Group).
Meanwhile, Vijay was the champion batsman as he played over 150 First-Class matches and scored over 13470 runs. Vijay had a batting average of 71.64 which is the second-highest first-class average in the history of cricket. Notably, he is just behind legendary Australian Sir Don Bradman. However, he was only able to represent India in 10 Test games. In those games, he smashed amazing 859 runs at 47.72.
#4 Aryaman Birla
The 24-year-old Aryaman Birla is the son of Kumar Mangalam Birla, who is a billionaire industrialist, and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group. Many fans name Aryanman Birla amongst the richest player in the cricketing world alongside Virat Kohli, Ms. Dhoni, and Sachin Tendulkar.
Meanwhile, Aryaman Birla made his debut in first-class while representing Madhya Pradesh in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy tournament. Meanwhile, he was purchased by the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2018 auction which was held in January. After that in the same year, he smashed a century in FC cricket in November. Meanwhile, he took a sabbatical from cricket due to mental health issues.
#3. Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
The legendary Indian captain Nawab Mansoor entered into cricket with a tag of a rich player he used to come from a royal family and had more than enough money before entering the game. He was the titular Nawab of Pataudi from 1952 until 1971. Also, he was given the responsibility to captain the Indian team at the very young age of 21.
Meanwhile, he played over 300 first-class matches and smashed over 15000 runs with a decent batting average of 33.67. Also, he played 46 matches for India and scored 2,793 runs at an average of 34.91.
#2 Sourav Ganguly
Former Indian captain and the current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is regarded as one of the most successful cricketers of all time. He was a champion batsman and star captain. Ganguly came into cricket with rich family background, Sourav’s father was a very successful businessman, he ran a flourishing print business in Kolkata. The Prince of Kolkata lived a life just like a prince before entering the cricketing world.
Sourav Ganguly has played over 1000 cricketing matches in his career including ODI, Test, FC, and LA. Notably, he had a grand success in ODI cricket as he played over 300 games and scored over 11,000 runs.
Meanwhile, his Test career was also a very successful one as he managed to score 7,212 runs in 113 Tests. Ganguly was also responsible for the renovation of team India when they were going through a tough time.
#1 Muttiah Muralitharan
Muralitharan is unarguably the greatest spinner of all time. His success in international cricket is remembered to date, his records in international cricket still seem unbreakable even after several years of retirement. Many fans don’t know that legendary spinner comes from rich family background. Notably, Muralitharan’s father Sinnasamy Muttiah ran a successful biscuit-making business due to which Muralitharan lived a luxurious life ahead of entering cricket.
Talking about his international career, it was filled with a hell of a lot of success and controversial bowling action. Murali was the hot topic of discussion for his unique bowling action which caused a lot of trouble for him. However, controversies didn’t stop him from becoming the legendary cricketer. As he is the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 800 scalps and no bowler is even close to him. Also, he holds the record for most wickets in ODI cricket with 534 wickets under his belt.
Overall the greatest spinner of all time sits at the top of the highest wicket-takers list with 1347 international wickets. The bowler at no. two positions are Shane Warne who has 1001 wickets which is 346 wickets less than Muralitharan.
