Cricketers with professional degrees

[pillionrider]

[MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] provoked this idea of cricketers who were/are professionally qualified to do something other than cricket. Or those who started off down a professional road but chose cricket.

This isn't a thread to elevate an educated cricketer - more a trivia or general knowledge one. And maybe some here might form and feel kinship with a cricketer through their educational qualifications.

What I can remember are mostly the engineers.

Anil Kumble - Engineer
Javagal Srinath - Engineer
R Ashwin - Engineer
Zaheer Khan - dropped out of Engineering.
EAS Prasanna - Engineer
Prasanna actually lost a few years of his international career because his parents insisted that he first complete his degree before continuing

Saeed Anwar - Engineer
Sangakkara dropped out of law school

 

[angrypathan]

Sangakkara actually later completed a Masters in Law. Remember reading somewhere that Mushfiqur Rahim also completed a Masters degree

 

[Pakistanian]

Meh desis and their obsession with a professional education lol.

 

[Hitman]

Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid.

 

[JaDed]

Was googling as well, surprised by some

Ramiz Raja - MBA
Imran Khan - Degree in Philosophy, politics and economics.. (sounds like a rich person thing though)
Geff Lawson - bachelor of optometry

 

[JaDed]

Andrew Strauss - economics apparently wrote his dissertation on supermodular games , sounds like a one who went in depth lol

 

[Bigboii]

Meh desis and their obsession with a professional education lol.

Don't know much about other sports but people appreciate NBA players who complete thier education so not a desi thing only and personally I think it's cool show's a person character and his dedication towards the sport and him trying to grow as a person and if they are pulling all-nighters to actually balance sports and academics they can carry thier hard working attitude to the court or the field.

But shout out to these athletes for getting thier education and competing at the highest level that's something very special

 

[Pakistanian]

Shan Masood, Economics degree from England.
I think Imad Wasim studied in England too.

 

[FreePalestine]

Mike Brearley had a degree in psychology, I think.

Misbah has an MBA

 

[Stewie]

There is a football player I. This years super bowl who is a doctor..

 

[James]

Imran Khan - PPE.
Kumar Sangakkara - Masters in Law.
Mike Brearley - BA Classics & MA Moral Sciences.

 

[JaDed]

There is a football player I. This years super bowl who is a doctor..

Kansas -Canadian Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

Lol in spite of knowing all the concussion issues he still plays. Guessing he is one of those rare Canadian Football players.. wonder why he didn’t take up hockey .

Also he is from McGill uni not just any uni. [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION]

 

[WebGuru]

Three of the Pakistani Test Captains studied in Oxdord. Hafeez Kardar, Javed Burki and Imran Khan. Another Pakistani Test Captain Majid Khan studied in Cambridge.

Interestingly 3 of the above mentioned Pakistani Test Captains are first cousins (Javed, Majid and Imran).

Another Pakistani Test captain Fazal Mehmood also had Masters in Economics and he joined Pakistan services as an Inspector of Police before playing professional cricket. Fazal reached the rank of DIG of Police when he retired.

Two other Pakistani Test Captains Misbah and Ramiz Raja had MBA degrees.

Rameez Raja's elder brother Wasim Raja had a master's degree too.

 

[last_knight]

I think Urooj Mumtaz is a doctor. Dental Surgeon.

 

[shah_1]

Rashid Latif has studied from Ned(Engineering)

 

[CricketCartoons]

Imran Khan - PPE.
Kumar Sangakkara - Masters in Law.
Mike Brearley - BA Classics & MA Moral Sciences.

brearley has the least remarkable degree.

 

[James]

brearley has the least remarkable degree.

Definitely - it would normally be viewed as little more than a Mickey Mouse degree, but he got it from Cambridge so it gets talked up more.

What’s more impressive is his post-cricket career as a psychotherapist. He rose to President of the British Psychoanalytical Society.

 

[WebGuru]

Dr Zafar Altaf retired as a First Class cricketer and was selected in the squad but wasn't able to debut at the international level. He is probably the highest educated cricketer from Pakistan. He received PhD in Economics at the University of Birmingham.

Taught economics at three universities in Pakistan, served as a Secretary, Chief Selector, Manager and thn chairman of PCB. Also served as economist in the Pakistan civil service rising to the position of Federal Secretary. His last post was chairman of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council.

Listened to this wise man a couple of times before his death and i was really impressed.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Venkataraghavan- engineer from Guindy College of Engineering (prestigious one in Tamil Nadu), apparently he was a gold medallist in his batch, ex-captain of India, famous umpire

Dravid- Commerce from St Joseph's Bangalore

Srikkanth- Electrical Engineer from Guindy College of Engineering

Murali Vijay- Economics from SRM University

It seems players from South India take their education more seriously. VVS Laxman was very good in academics but had to drop out from medical school.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Kansas -Canadian Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

Lol in spite of knowing all the concussion issues he still plays. Guessing he is one of those rare Canadian Football players.. wonder why he didn’t take up hockey .

Also he is from McGill uni not just any uni. [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION]

A Canadian guy named John Urschel, played in NFL, then retired and now pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT. Great guy, also plays online chess and has shown massive improvement in a short span of time.

 

[Rana]

Best is the Ansari kid from Surrey. He gave up an International career to pursue a PHD

 

[shaz619]

Misbah did his BEng in Maths and Physics the legend no wonder the Mechanical jobbers envy him

Usman from AUS did aviation management I think and as a part of that completed his pilots PPL

 

[sindhiboy]

Misbah did his BEng in Maths and Physics the legend no wonder the Mechanical jobbers envy him

Usman from AUS did aviation management I think and as a part of that completed his pilots PPL

you would think misbah would be alot smarter than he acts like

 

[CricketCartoons]

you would think misbah would be alot smarter than he acts like

He may have attended only the classes on inertia, and skipped the ones on acceleration.

 

[in_cutter]

you would think misbah would be alot smarter than he acts like

Smarter than most

 

[sindhiboy]

theunis de buryn- chartered accountant
jeet raval- chartered accountant
will somerville- chartered accountant

imad wasim is a doctor i think
sohaib maqsood has an mba
pat cummins- bba marketing

mike atherton graduated from cambirdge, maybe economics, and many english cricketers have university education

ab de villiers does not have a degree , but excelled in academics in school and won science project awards

 

[sindhiboy]

A Canadian guy named John Urschel, played in NFL, then retired and now pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT. Great guy, also plays online chess and has shown massive improvement in a short span of time.

really destroys the desi vilager myth that tall people cant be smart. i think there is a saying going along the lines of tall people have their brains in their legs

 

[Green Patriot]

theunis de buryn- chartered accountant
jeet raval- chartered accountant
will somerville- chartered accountant

imad wasim is a doctor i think
sohaib maqsood has an mba
pat cummins- bba marketing

mike atherton graduated from cambirdge, maybe economics, and many english cricketers have university education

ab de villiers does not have a degree , but excelled in academics in school and won science project awards

Imad wanted to be a doctor but gave up on that dream for cricket. He did complete his inter i think.
His wife has done MBBS though, as far as i know.

 

[sjahmed23]

I frankly think all cricketers should have some sort of education, atleast 2 years of college. Not everyone can be an international super star so it's best to have a backup plan. It's unfortunate that our cricket environment is so cut throat that many players have to drop out of school to pursue cricket then beg so called departments for low paying jobs. PCB (or ICC for that matter) should provide scholarships to all U19 - U16 cricketers, it would be a good gesture that will pay long term dividends.

 

[sindhiboy]

I frankly think all cricketers should have some sort of education, atleast 2 years of college. Not everyone can be an international super star so it's best to have a backup plan. It's unfortunate that our cricket environment is so cut throat that many players have to drop out of school to pursue cricket then beg so called departments for low paying jobs. PCB (or ICC for that matter) should provide scholarships to all U19 - U16 cricketers, it would be a good gesture that will pay long term dividends.

good idea

 

[Saj]

imad wasim is a doctor i think

No he isn't.

Wanted to study but it did not happen.

 

[Ronaldo7]

It’s good to be educated but job wise it wouldn’t matter as the cricketers have barely any experience in their fields of work (except cricket)

 

[moghul]

Kansas -Canadian Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

Lol in spite of knowing all the concussion issues he still plays. Guessing he is one of those rare Canadian Football players.. wonder why he didn’t take up hockey .

Also he is from McGill uni not just any uni. [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION]

Duvernay-Tardif is the fourth NFL player to have become a medical graduate, and as of the 2018 season, the only active player.[25] He graduated from the prestigious McGill University Faculty of Medicine in May 2018 with a Doctor in Medicine and Master in Surgery (M.D., C.M.). He primarily studied during the off-season prior to mandatory off-season workouts.[26] He had the support of the Chiefs coaching staff, especially head coach Andy Reid, whose mother also graduated from the McGill medical school.[27] Following his graduation, he submitted a formal request to the NFL to add the title "M.D." on the back of his jersey. The league denied his request, prompting fans and writers to criticize the league's decision.

It took him 8 years to complete 4 year-post graduate MD studies.

To practice medicine, he has to go through the residency program, but wow what a committed and balanced person. I never thought it was possible.

Certainly its not possible to play serious cricket in Pakistan while studying medicine, but there are some exception, I know at least two doctors from Pakistan who played FC cricket.

 

[JaDed]

A Canadian guy named John Urschel, played in NFL, then retired and now pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT. Great guy, also plays online chess and has shown massive improvement in a short span of time.

Oh wow, wonder if its natural for some people who are born with the focus and talent.

Duvernay-Tardif is the fourth NFL player to have become a medical graduate, and as of the 2018 season, the only active player.[25] He graduated from the prestigious McGill University Faculty of Medicine in May 2018 with a Doctor in Medicine and Master in Surgery (M.D., C.M.). He primarily studied during the off-season prior to mandatory off-season workouts.[26] He had the support of the Chiefs coaching staff, especially head coach Andy Reid, whose mother also graduated from the McGill medical school.[27] Following his graduation, he submitted a formal request to the NFL to add the title "M.D." on the back of his jersey. The league denied his request, prompting fans and writers to criticize the league's decision.

It took him 8 years to complete 4 year-post graduate MD studies.

To practice medicine, he has to go through the residency program, but wow what a committed and balanced person. I never thought it was possible.

Certainly its not possible to play serious cricket in Pakistan while studying medicine, but there are some exception, I know at least two doctors from Pakistan who played FC cricket.

True, love that in States College education is possible with sports scholarship although they are very poorly paid which is being criticized now..some basketball player put a case as well IIRC..

 

[Pakistanian]

Oh wow, wonder if its natural for some people who are born with the focus and talent.



True, love that in States College education is possible with sports scholarship although they are very poorly paid which is being criticized now..some basketball player put a case as well IIRC..

College athletes don't get paid, they get full ride scholarships that cover all their living expenses + tuition + books basically everything however one could argue that the colleges make hundreds of millions from the sports teams and the athletes don't get a piece of the pie. What's funny is that college football coaches are some of the highest paid state employees at most state colleges, the head coach of the football and basketball team and at my school are millionaires and make more than the school's President.

 

[Pakistanian]

Duvernay-Tardif is the fourth NFL player to have become a medical graduate, and as of the 2018 season, the only active player.[25] He graduated from the prestigious McGill University Faculty of Medicine in May 2018 with a Doctor in Medicine and Master in Surgery (M.D., C.M.). He primarily studied during the off-season prior to mandatory off-season workouts.[26] He had the support of the Chiefs coaching staff, especially head coach Andy Reid, whose mother also graduated from the McGill medical school.[27] Following his graduation, he submitted a formal request to the NFL to add the title "M.D." on the back of his jersey. The league denied his request, prompting fans and writers to criticize the league's decision.

It took him 8 years to complete 4 year-post graduate MD studies.

To practice medicine, he has to go through the residency program, but wow what a committed and balanced person. I never thought it was possible.

Certainly its not possible to play serious cricket in Pakistan while studying medicine, but there are some exception, I know at least two doctors from Pakistan who played FC cricket.

American (& Canadian) schools are flexible, they can work around with you. You can't compare it to the Pakistani system.

 

[andy0204]

Mohammad Azharuddin and Hansie Cronje-Bachelor of commerce.
So fixers were educated enough.

 

[jeetu]

W. G. Grace - Medical Practitioner

 

[Danyaalr01]

Mitchell Santner is an Engineer I'm pretty sure.

 

[moghul]

"engineer". " an IT person" " commerce" are wage terminology, unless specific degree is mentioned.

 

[JaDed]

"engineer". " an IT person" " commerce" are wage terminology, unless specific degree is mentioned.

Bachelor of Commerce is a degree in India.. yeah weird , apparently was offered in UK too once upon a time, very few countries have such a degree.

 

[Tubs]

Was googling as well, surprised by some

Ramiz Raja - MBA
Imran Khan - Degree in Philosophy, politics and economics.. (sounds like a rich person thing though)
Geff Lawson - bachelor of optometry

It kind of is. PPE at Oxford is like the typical degree that most UK PMs study.

 

[Robert]

Imran Khan - Degree in Philosophy, politics and economics.. (sounds like a rich person thing though)

I didn’t know he did PPE. That’s a serious course. No mucking about, got to hammer the books from day one. Prime Ministers and Chancellors do that.

 

[Saj]

Quetta-born Leics cricketer Hassan Azad has a degree in Chemical Engineering.

 

[JaDed]

Venkataraghavan- engineer from Guindy College of Engineering (prestigious one in Tamil Nadu), apparently he was a gold medallist in his batch, ex-captain of India, famous umpire

Dravid- Commerce from St Joseph's Bangalore

Srikkanth- Electrical Engineer from Guindy College of Engineering

Murali Vijay- Economics from SRM University

It seems players from South India take their education more seriously. VVS Laxman was very good in academics but had to drop out from medical school.

Didn’t know Srikanth is passout from CEG , man he could do two things and I couldn’t even do one lol.

 

[JaDed]

I didn’t know he did PPE. That’s a serious course. No mucking about, got to hammer the books from day one. Prime Ministers and Chancellors do that.

It’s a serious course but a rich person one is what I think..

 

[Nikhil_cric]

It’s a serious course but a rich person one is what I think..

Maybe in the UK but in India we have colleges that offer BA in similar courses. Hardly a rich man's course here.

 

[Titan24]

Misbah did his BEng in Maths and Physics the legend no wonder the Mechanical jobbers envy him

Usman from AUS did aviation management I think and as a part of that completed his pilots PPL

you would think misbah would be alot smarter than he acts like

Misbah has an MBA in Human Resource management from UMT.

 

[JaDed]

Maybe in the UK but in India we have colleges that offer BA in similar courses. Hardly a rich man's course here.

Defn not in India or Pak.. our rich people would go to Oxford, Yale for the course as well.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Krish Srikkanth graduated from a prestigious Anna university.

 

[JaDed]

Krish Srikkanth graduated from a prestigious Anna university.

Yeah, everything is almost Anna Uni in TN, the actual one is called College if engineering ,Guindy which yes he is from..

 

[PakLFC]

Not to Pakistanis will be on this list, I am afraid. Plenty of Indian and English boys are very well educated.

 

[PakLFC]

Mohsin Khan seems well educated. The late Wasim Raja who was a teacher in London must also have had a few degree's as well.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Some poster mentioned that sarfaraz had an engineering degree as well.

 

[moghul]

Saeed Anwar went to NED university Karachi, a famous engineering university.

He graduated from NED in 1989 majoring in Computer System Engineering.

 

[pillionrider]

Sangakkara actually later completed a Masters in Law. Remember reading somewhere that Mushfiqur Rahim also completed a Masters degree

Thanks for the correction. Wasn't aware.

 

[Dulex9]

Imran Khan-Politics with Economics or was it ppe? I think it was the former
Nassar Hussain-Mathematics

 

[Dulex9]

Daniel Vettori had a chance to study Science/Pharmacy something around that.

 

[KyoOne]

Fawad Alam has done Bachelors in Commerce.

 

[Majid Khan]

If I’m not mistaken one of the current Pakistani batting legends has been studying for a pHD with a world first 18 years long (and still ongoing) thesis covering research on the following topic :

“The physics of Mediocre batting against swing, seam, bounce, pace bowling and how this relates to Newton’s First Law.”

Where :
“ Newton's First Law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force”

 

[Titan24]

Some poster mentioned that sarfaraz had an engineering degree as well.

As per the information available, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Dawood University of Engineering & Technology.

 

[Titan24]

If I’m not mistaken one of the current Pakistani batting legends has been studying for a pHD with a world first 18 years long (and still ongoing) thesis covering research on the following topic :

“The physics of Mediocre batting against swing, seam, bounce, pace bowling and how this relates to Newton’s First Law.”

Where :
“ Newton's First Law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force”

Somebody quoting professor here?

 

[Nikhil_cric]

As per the information available, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Dawood University of Engineering & Technology.

That's actually impressive. I did not know that sarfraz was an electrical engineering graduate.

 

[vicky11]

Both ravichandran ashwin and anil kumble have done their Engineering degrees. Apparently anil kumble even works as a software engineer.

 

[pillionrider]

Apparently anil kumble even works as a software engineer.

Don't think so. His brother had some sort of data company (no idea what, as I'm far off from the software industry) and maybe Anil helps out there.

 

[vicky11]

Yeah... Something like that.

 

[realrahulka]

Sachin Tendulkar is probably the least educated one here ..10th pass.

 

[shaz619]

Misbah has an MBA in Human Resource management from UMT.

MBA in Bijnus / commercial related area yeah whatever, but the great man himself values his bachelors a lot more:

The Pakistan Test captain also spoke about the impact of education on his life and cricketing career by saying, “Education changes your life, it change your way of thinking, you start seeing things in different way and also my subjects were double maths, physics in B.SC and after that, I completed my MBA. Maths and physics are such subjects which enables one to see things from every angle with a newer point of view. You go deep into things while analyzing. So, when it comes to decision making in a game, you go deep in analysis with different angles and quickly too.

”

https://www.cricketcountry.com/news/story-of-misbah-ul-haqs-journey-to-international-cricket-522373

 

[vicky11]

Azaruddin had a commerce degree ...... Wow....

 

[Theo_14]

Imad wanted to be a doctor but gave up on that dream for cricket. He did complete his inter i think.
His wife has done MBBS though, as far as i know.

His wife never got to University. She did few courses in College and then worked in retail. Imad’s schooling has been in Swansea I believe.

 

[light]

Was googling as well, surprised by some

Ramiz Raja - MBA
Imran Khan - Degree in Philosophy, politics and economics.. (sounds like a rich person thing though)
Geff Lawson - bachelor of optometry

Imran Khan was a great captain. I guess philosophy had a part in his captaincy

 

[Abdul]

Umar Akmal has a masters in clowning.

 

[ChennaiFan]

Didn’t know Srikanth is passout from CEG , man he could do two things and I couldn’t even do one lol.

Till he retired from cricket, he used to play in CEG grounds for some local club. I believe it was Alwarpet cricket club. Most of the times I have seen him fielding at cover. He was a very good fielder even at that age.

 

[JaDed]

Till he retired from cricket, he used to play in CEG grounds for some local club. I believe it was Alwarpet cricket club. Most of the times I have seen him fielding at cover. He was a very good fielder even at that age.

He had something most TN cricketers don’t have I feel, self belief, if not no way should had Dinesh Karthik not been the keeper for India or opened atleast as a batsman after 2007 England test series or 2007 T20 or even Last ball six.. somehow seems to fizzle out.

 

[Green Patriot]

His wife never got to University. She did few courses in College and then worked in retail. Imad’s schooling has been in Swansea I believe.

I remember reading on her insta story in a Q/A she held with followers. It is possible i might have confused her with someone else though but there is no way to verify.

As for Imad however i know for a fact that he moved to Pakistan at the age of 2 so his schooling is definitely not from Swansea.

 

[Mamoon]

His wife never got to University. She did few courses in College and then worked in retail. Imad’s schooling has been in Swansea I believe.

Imad’s parents left Swansea when he was a toddler. He grew up in Islamabad.

 

[Bosanquet]

I've always been interested in medical professionals who played sports. I once had a trainee who played rugby for england.As for cricketers, here's a brief list of medics who have played tests -

Dr W G Grace - obviously the most famous
Dr E M Grace (WG's brother, played just 1 test but good first class career)
Dr Ali Bacher ( Captained South Africa)
Dr Monty Noble - a Dentist; played over 40 tests for australia
Dr Chris Harris - played a few tests but many more ODIs for NZ
Dr Geoff Lawson - Australian optometrist & fast bowler
Dr Herbert Hordern - australian legbreak & googly bowler.

I'm sure there are a few more but I cannot remember just now.

 

[topspin]

Umar Akmal has a Masters in Psychology

 

[Majid Khan]

Thought he was MBA , as in Mediocre Bowling Attack specialist... there’s a few of those qualified specialist batsmen in the Pakistan team.

 

[khan_aa]

umar akmal has a masters in psychology

hahahahhahaha