Education is an important aspect of our lives. It teaches us self-discipline and a better way to live our lives peacefully. By educating ourselves we come to know about good and bad things in life. We become independent and help ourselves and others deal with various circumstances.
It is important in cricket also teaching players not to be selfish and deal with compact situations patiently. Learning plays a great role for ones nation in every field in one or the other way leading citizens to a bright and economic future.
Here, let’s us pay a look at the 15 highly educated cricketers of all time:
1. Mike Brearley- (England)
John Mike Brearley aged 80, born on April 28, 1942, is a retired England cricketer who played his last game in a Test match on 27 August 1981 vs Australia. This batsman from the early 60s not only outclassed himself in his cricket career but also mastered his identity in the field of Classical and moral sciences first in the undergraduate program and then later in his postgraduate degree at St John’s College followed up by Cambridge University.
He also captained the champions at Cambridge University, Middlesex, and nonetheless, England was also a part of it. John Mike started off with orthodox from school when he was a whizz-kid and later touched to the zeniths of the first-rate class game, then accordingly managed his time with both work and studies and then finally decided to give his full time for the play which was successful for him.
He was sometimes called a scholar-sportsman and then with his stupefying effort and great talent he achieved prominent peaks despite all the somber approaches. Mike Brearley was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club from 2007–to 2008 and furthermore has great stats in his cricket commitments record.
Just like at his young age he is a multi-task performer and thus even now is currently working as a psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, impetus motivational speaker, and at the end as an odd-time cricket journalist. Summing up as a writer this time he has authorized and published two of his books and also was selected as the President of the British Psychoanalytical Society arising during 2008 and 2010.
2. Imran Khan- (Pakistan)
Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, the leading light of the Pakistan national cricket team during the 19s, was born on the 5th of October 1952 and played as an all-rounder with a right-arm fast bowling figure style and the same with the bat playing right-handed. In his test cricket career, he took 362 wickets which declared him the first Pakistani and in the world ranked no. 4 in doing so.
This 1992 World cup winning captain enlightened himself in his education at the Cathedral school and has magnificent academic progress. Later then joined the Aitchison college for further schooling in Lahore. Pursuing post-graduate degree education he also studied at the Royal Grammar School of Worcester, England. He graduated in 1975 from Keble College in Oxford where he was conscious of mastering philosophy, politics, and economics.
In the year 2005, Imran Khan was chosen as the chancellor of the University of Bradford but when he made commitments for the political matters he had to step down from that post. He was not only a captain of a cricket team but also with his great effort and struggle for his nation by standing forth as the 1st sportsman prime minister of Pakistan while in the number being the 22nd during the year 2018.
3. Rahul Dravid- (India)
Former Indian captain of the Indian cricket team Rahul Dravid played as a right-handed batsman with a right arm off break bowling style. He was known as “The Great Wall of India” due to his splendid batting style. He completed his schooling at St. Joseph’s High School in Bangalore.
Before getting selected for the Indian cricket team squad he was chasing an MBA degree from St. Joseph’s College of Business Administration in 1996. Rahul Dravid, yet among the most educated cricketers was no doubt a classical batsman and progressed to the national side with his own tactics by leading the Indian U-19 team and another India-A team from 2016-to 2019.
He has faced many obstacles throughout his on-field career for the Indian team but despite such, he kept both his sportsmanship and academics under control with par. Dravid now is currently the Director of Cricket Operations at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
4. Kumar Sangakkara- (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lankan commentator currently and a businessman, Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara before being this was a Sri Lankan cricketer who played professional cricket with a left-hand batting style, right-arm off-break bowling and on the field, he hold the position of a wicket-keeper likewise termed as a wicket-keeping batsman.
Playing cricket he had won many awards being in total 16 for player of the match. Also, he made the most runs in any innings as a wicket-keeper (230runs) and mostly scored a century in every cricket match. An award was rewarded for this also. Born on October 27th, 1977 in Matale, he received his primary and secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy which was a private boys’ school in Sri Lanka.
Further, in 1996 in the Arts stream, he completed his advanced level examination. In the mentioned year he was awarded by the Trinity Lion and Ryde Gold Medal school for being the best all-rounder student. Senior prefect and a head boy of school later he finished his Master’s in Law at the University of Colombo.
Having a premier academic career he was also an ICC Hall of Fame inductee and former president of the Marylebone cricket club. Sangakkara was named the greatest batsman in the history of sports and top 3 in the batsman ranking across the globe.
5. Saeed Anwar- (Pakistan)
Former Pakistani cricketer Saeed Anwar who captained mostly in ODI cricket format and Test cricket was born on September 06, 1968, in Karachi, Sind. Playing cricket between the years 1989 and 2003, opening with the bat as most valuable and bowling infrequent slow left-arm orthodox he scored 12, 876 runs for Pakistan with an exceptional average of 45.52.
His most historic innings was when he scored a massive number of 194 runs against India in Chennai, which was the highest of the time in ODI cricket history matches. Not only showing exceptions on the ground but also when we pay attention to Saeed Anwar’s academics, In 1989, he paramount in Computer System Engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology which was situated in Karachi.
Later when he was close to a Master degree he dropped it off and decided to move on with a cricket career as his major. In 2003, he manifested himself to retire from international cricket, the main reason being his non-selection in the team.
Also, see Top cricketers who dropped many catches
6. Javagal Srinath- (India)
Indian cricketer and a right-arm fast-medium pace bowler, Javagal Srinath was born on 31st August 1969 in the Mysore district of Karnataka and clasped a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Instrumentation Technology from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE), Mysuru, Sri Lanka.
Srinath became the first Indian bowler to grasp 300 wickets in the ODI format. In the various editions of the Cricket world cup, he took 44 wickets being India’s fastest known bowler with a speed of 149.6 km/h on average. In his debut for Karnataka in 1989, he took a hat-trick in his first innings against Hyderabad.
Being under pressure and losing his stamina slowly made known his weak points but this didn’t matter much as in other aspects he gave his full potential and made his presence felt for his team. Currently included in the ICC panel of match referees Javagal serves his country in other means.
7. Rameez Raja- (Pakistan)
Ramiz Hasan Raja, born on August 14th, 1962, in the Punjab district of Pakistan performed for the Pakistan cricket team as a right-handed Batsman with a leg-break bowling style serving the team for 12 years. (1984-1997) After he retired from cricket he started working as a cricket commentator and currently is the 36th Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
He has had superficial stats in his profile including the ones with scoring 2833 runs in 57 test cricket matches with an average of 31.83. In the 1987 world cup, he supervised the semi-finals of Pakistan. Ramiz Raja went to Punjab University for a Master degree in business administration. Not all Pakistani cricketers known until now have completed their education but he along with Imran Khan holds an MBA degree.
Despite having many ups and downs during his captaincy due to being removed from the captain title twice during a series with Sri Lanka and India as he failed to provide a proper look after for his team, he now is among the best commentators and a star among youth.
8. Geoff Lawson- (Australia)
Former Australian cricketer, Geoff Francis Lawson played as a right-arm fast bowler in his International career between 1980-1989, being 9 years in total which was not a large period. He is a qualified Optometrist with a Bachelor of Optometry from the University of New South Wales before entering into a sports career.
During the years 2007-2008, he was known to all as “Henry”, he was mostly recorded as an analyst and spectator for the game and prospered as Bob Woolmer while being represented as a coach for the Pakistan cricket team. Lawson aged 64 has been playing cricket with 46 test cricket matches and 76 ODIs for Australia.
In 1978-79 Lawson gained recognition and attracted attention for the first time during England’s tour matches in which he represented New South Wales in the time of practice matches. He was so good with the ball with applying variations comfortably really quickly in a well-organized and structured manner which got him wickets easily.
In 1989, Geoff Lawson started focusing mainly on domestic cricket before completely retiring as he was doubtful about his career which was already on the verge of being ended up as he was dropped in the middle of the series against the Kiwis (New Zealand).
9. Ravichandran Ashwin- (India)
Ravichandran Ashwin was born on September 17th, 1986 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Known as a well-known Indian International cricketer with a right-handed batting style along with right-arm off-break bowling, mainly an overall cricketer with an all-rounder playing a role.
He was educated at Padma Seshadari Bala Bhawan and St.Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary school and went to Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering and graduated there with a BTech in Information technology.
His time at St.Bede’s seemed very crucial for him as it had a cricket academy where Ashwin’s two coaches C.K Vijay and Chandra performed a great role in his cricket career where he first changed his bowling style from medium pace to off-spin type.
Ashwin has gathered a total of 9 awards for outstanding bowling analyses among his team members in the most player of the series category. Moreover, collecting 7 awards for most ten wickets taken in a single game. He is known well for his spin bowling and was once ranked highest in bowling.
In 2016, he became the 3rd Indian cricket team player who won the ICC cricketer of the year award, and on 10th April 2022, he retired from the IPL league stage match which was between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants.
10. Misbah-ul-Haq- (Pakistan)
Misbah-ul-Haq, former player of the Pakistan cricket team and a cricket coach was born on 28th May 1974, in Mianwali, in the Punjab district. This middle order batter who played right-handed studied MBA degree at the University of Management and Technology which is a private research university, in Lahore, Punjab. Further, he holds two degrees in BSc Mathematics and Physics.
Once known as the wall of the Pakistani batting line-up he played first-class cricket and was the 1st cricketer batsman to score a Test century after the age of 41. Also being the first South Asian captain to defeat South Africa in their homeland and granting his team victory, Misbah-ul-Haq was famous for his aggressive batting with super stroke play.
His degree in business management helped him a lot in putting Pakistan in a place it surely deserved. His hobbies included playing football and listening to music, this legend then left the Pakistan international cricket team at the age of 44 years old making them the most unpredictable team until now and defending them during their bad breaks.
Also, read Top 10 best Yorkers in cricket history
11. Anil Kumble- (India)
Anil Kumble an expert in Test cricket, played as a former Indian cricket team captain during his International career which was almost 18 years of his service. Born on October 17, 1970, in Bengaluru, India he graduated with a B.E. degree from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE) in Mechanical Engineering.
Nicknamed Jumbo with his persuasive bowling attack he collected 619 wickets in 132 test matches. An unforgettable inning that took place in Delhi in 1999, against Pakistan turned out to be stunning for Anil where he congregated all 10 wickets and thrashed the Pakistani batting line-up.
After he decided to end his international career by retiring, he carried on with being passively playing in the game. He was then appointed president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association in 2010 and was in service for 3 years for the same. Further, in 2016, he was selected as the head coach of India before their tour for the test series against the West Indies.
12. Michael Atherton – (England)
Commentator, Journalist, and Author, Michael Andrew Atherton born on March 23, 1968, in Failsworth, Manchester, Lancashire served the English men in whatever way be. Completing his primary education at Manchester Grammar School and higher studies at Downing College, Cambridge university he got his degree in history.
Later thinking of cricket as his main profession he opened with the bat for the England cricket team and played his first test debut on 10 August 1989, vs Australia, and kept his average of 38.00 throughout. Some interesting facts about him say that he was called cockroach Steve Waugh as it was very difficult to dismiss him when he stood at the crease.
Atherton was very patient when it came to the test match which took place in Johannesburg in 1996, where he made 185 runs in 643 minutes to help England achieve a draw against the South African team. He was a great captain but eventually had to retire after 5 years of International career but still continued to play for the next 4 years. Currently, he is working as a commentator for a sports channel.
13. Shikha Pandey- (India)
All-rounder Shikha Subas Pandey, who plays for the Indian national cricket team is also among the most educated Indian cricketers. Her schooling record shows her excellence in academics, she has achieved 90% aggregate marks in both matric and 2nd year from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations in India.
Her interest in cricket started occurring in her mind while she was still in her 2nd year of college. Shikha managed her time well for both her interest and study and simultaneously completed her B. Tech in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Goa College of Engineering in the year 2010.
Born in Telangana, this women cricketer also made a record in the 2nd match in the series against South Africa in 2014, where she became the first Indian women cricketer to score 50 runs and take 3 wickets in the same match, while overall being numbered as 34th.
Shikha was ranked 10 among the most wicket-takers (35) in Women’s One Day International matches whereas 45th in ranking in the 8th wicket partnership. Not only these many more records have been made by this woman cricketer which shows her resoluteness in cricket.
14. Murali Vijay- (India)
Murali Vijay who mostly played domestic cricket for Tamil Nadu is a right-handed opening batsman among the Indian cricketers who played a great role in Test cricket games. Born on April 1, 1984, in Chennai, India he completed his higher secondary education at Gill Adarsh Matriculation School located in Chennai.
He also took hold of an Undergraduate degree in Economics from Ramakrishna Mission College, Chennai. He, later on, went to complete his Post graduation in Economics from the same SRM University in Chennai hence among other most educated Indian cricketers.
His International debut in test cricket was on 6 November 2008 in a match against Australia held in Nagpur, ODI debut on 27th February 2010 vs South Africa in Ahmedabad whereas nonetheless, his T20 debut was against Afghanistan on 1st of May 2010 in St Lucia.
Some of his main records were made in the 2014-15 Test series in Australia in which Murali Vijay was declared the 2nd highest run-scorer, the top position being held by Virat Kohli. He then later retired after playing his last ODI against Zimbabwe on 9 July 2015.
15. Edward Cowan- (Australia)
Edward James Cowan, a left-handed batsman playing cricket for the Australian team played his first match against India on 2011 Boxing test day. Domestic cricket teams for which he played included New South Wales and Tasmania. Cowan became the highest run-scorer for New South Wales in the U-17 national championships held in Sydney between the years 1998-99.
He went to Tudor House School in Moss Vale and Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill for his studies and also for participating in cricket matches that were held there. Moreover, he has a bachelors degree in Commerce and a Masters degree in Applied Finance which he took from The University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Mostly known as an opener batsman for his team he has many extensive records with the bat but not only this he also shows excellence on the fielding ground and so-called an all-rounder batsman. With an average of nearly 31 in test matches, he once contributed 2 half-centuries in a match which made his home team a grand victory with a 4-0 lead.
He retired from first-class international cricket in the year 2009, this legend has played a total of 143 first-class matches in Australia and England where he scored 10,097 runs with an average of 41.89 that included 25 -100s and 48- 50s.
Also, read
Top 10 Cricket Captains Who Served Nearly a Decade
