We are all aware of the popularity of cricket. The sport is worshipped like a religion and the players who play it are treated like demi-gods. The competition to make it to the national team is so cutthroat that a lot of youngsters spend their entire childhood and early life just playing cricket and honing their skills. A lot of players in the Indian team have been commerce graduates, engineers, and architects. However, these cases are too few and far in between. Kumble and Ashwin did engineering while Dravid was a commerce graduate. The rigors of the game are so demanding that one ostensibly needs to forego their education to have any future in sports.
Rahul Dravid had once, during his interaction with students, said, “I was poor at maths so I chose commerce and in my second year of B.com, I decided to do CA in case cricket didn’t work out. After opening the first book, I doubled my efforts in cricket.” Thus, for the younger generation, it would interesting to see how their role models waded through their academic lives. We look at the educational qualification of the top 5 current Indian players.
1. Ajinkya Rahane
The test vice-captain is an out-and-out Mumbai boy. He was brought up, studied in and played his cricket in Mumbai. His performances in the middle order provide India with the stability to perform both in India and overseas. Like most people who live and grow up in Mumbai, Rahane too undertook his formal graduation level education from the University of Mumbai. Prior to becoming a full-time international cricketer, Rahane graduated from Mumbai University in commerce.
2. Ravichandra Ashwin
The country’s most premier and skillful spinner is also among the most qualified personalities in the team. He has innumerable times spun a web around the batsmen in the sub-continent. Over the years, he has ensured that his offerings in overseas is also significant. On the educational front, Ashwin completed his B.Tech from Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering Chennai.
3. Rohit Sharma
Also known as “Hitman”, Sharma is one of the most gifted batsmen of this generation. His cricketing talent knows no bounds. Rohit only completed his education up to class 12th because got an opportunity to play international cricket. He completed his primary education at Our Lady of Vailankanni High School, Mumbai. He was then admitted to Swami Vivekananda School on scholarship which he got due to his excellent performances in school cricket. He also studied at Rizvi College, Mumbai.
4. MS Dhoni
Dhoni retired last year from international cricket but continues to captain Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. He first studied at the DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir where he was keenly interested in football and badminton. He then went on to St. Xavier’s College of Ranchi but dropped out as he was attracted to the game of cricket and he started making a name for himself here. Dhoni was keen to complete his graduation but due to his cricketing commitments couldn’t appear for final exams.
5. Virat Kohli
The king of Indian cricket, Kohli has enchanted the cricketing world with his skill, talent, and dedication. His performances on the pitch have been scintillating. However, for him to achieve this incredible ability to perform so effortlessly, he needed to give up on his academic dreams. He studied till 12th standard from Vishal Bharti Public School, New Delhi. He then started to play for Delhi in Ranji and did not undertake his graduation.
