Media slam Smith’s ‘overpaid’ team

Australia cricket team were slammed by media and termed as 'overpaid prima donna' cricketers by the Australian media following their 20-run defeat to Bangladesh in the first Test at Dhaka.

While Bangladesh were praised for their impressive victory, media focused on the financial disparity between the two sides.

The Australian's headline read '$1.36m a year to lose to cricket's paupers' and the report detailed the gap between the two teams in financial terms.

The Aussie cricketers get paid about $26,000 per week and each member on average earns $1.36 million a year.

Compared to those figures, a Bangladesh cricketer earns $500 a week and on average $26,136 per year in salaries.

The Australian highlighted that the Aussie cricketers will each earn more than their victors in the Dhaka Test.

Steve Smith and David Warner, each will earn $2m from their newly signed contracts with Cricket Australia.

Compared to that, Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal receive an annual salary of 2.4 million taka, about $37,240.

"What happened in Dhaka was on one hand wonderful for world cricket and on the other embarrassing for a pack of overpaid prima donnas," the Melbourne Herald-Sun said.

The Australian even asked "Did our national team expend too much energy on the Australian Cricket Association picket line and not enough in the nets?"

The New Zealand Herald however, heaped praise on Shakib and wrote: "Shakib proved why he was the world's No.1-ranked allrounder across all three formats, taking five-wicket hauls in both digs after top-scoring with 84 in the first innings."

Meanwhile an article from The Guardian suggested that Bangladesh's improvement has been rapid and they 'earned this triumph.'

It said that rolling four year rating cycle cannot adequately measure rapid development like Bangladesh's and reminded that 'it is a false equivalency to conclude that Steve Smith's touring party are inherently more capable because they are banking big salaries.'