5 Things retired cricketers are doing this season

In a cricket crazy country like India, cricketers gain the image of a celebrity when they represent the national team. But what do they do then when they are not playing anymore?The popularity has been a key for former cricketers who have entered into other different fields after retiring. Be it the glamour world or the management, former cricketers have been doing a variety of jobs after they stopped playing all forms of cricket.This season we could see the ex-cricketers involved in a mixture of activities. While some have kept associating themselves with cricket in the management like Ravi shastri and Sourav Ganguly, others will be seen regularly on TV shows.

#1 Buying Sports teams

ISL final witnessed the battle between Sourav’s ATK and Sachin’s Kerala Blaster team last year

With the glitz and glamour of franchise based sports tournaments coming to India, it has become a trend for ex and current cricketers to buy shares in the franchises participating in these tournaments.

Players like cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar and former national team captain Sourav Ganguly have bought major shares in the Indian Super League franchises recently. Sachin has been so impressed by his team’s performance last year that he has decided to buy the majority stake in his Kerala Blasters franchise. An additional 20% along with his already owned 40% shares will make him the majority stake holder in the club. Similarly Sourav being the co-owner of the Atletico de Kolkata franchise, has worked extensively with the Kolkata team which has won the Indian Super League last year.

Present cricketers like current Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli have also followed suit and invested in the Chennaiyin and FC Goa franchises respectively. Dhoni who has currently retired from test cricket has been known for his passion for bikes. Interestingly he was the founder of ‘Mahi Racing Team’ wich had a podium finish in the Supersport World Championship, in its first year of inception. Later after two years, the team had to be disbanded following budget constrains.

#2 Taking a lot of selfies

Sachin posted a selfie with the Kerala fans after they won their first home match

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has been in news regarding the amount of selfies he has been posting on social networking sites recently. Be it the ICC World Cup 2015 or Indian Super League, The maestro has greeted his fans on Twitter with selfies from his day to day life.

The selfie craze that has taken over Sachin so much that he was photographed taking selfie with the special children who came to visit him during Independence Day this year. Recently the Little Master took twitter by storm when he posted a selfie with Kerala Blasters fans after they beat NorthEast United in their opening game of the ISL. Last year his selfie with Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan when they came to watch Blaster’s home match in Kerala became really viral.

Former Australian spin legend Shane Warne has also been bitten by the Selfie bug. It has become a habit for Warne to take selfies whenever he gets chance.

#3 Participating in reality shows

Wasim Akram had previously hosted a dance show

It is more of a trend for former cricketers to participate in reality shows. Ex- cricketer and Member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu, has been a fimilar face in the Indian TV reality show circuit. Sidhu first figured as a judge on the television programme "The Great Indian Laughter Change." followed by a Punjabi TV series called Kareena Kareena where he acted as his own self(as ex-cricketer Sidhu). He was a contestant in a reality show Big Boss 6 where he had to exit due to political committments. Currently the ex- cricketer is a permanent guest in the comedy show, ‘Comedy nights with Kapil.”

Former India bowler S. Sreesanth participated in the seventh edition of dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa recently. He was banned from playing cricket for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing in the IPL four years back.But he has been declared innocent by the Supreme Court this year.

Like Sidu, ex-cricketer Ajay Jadeja has also been regular in Indian reality shows. Followed by a cameo in the celebrity dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa season 1, he appeared on the TV show Comedy Circus.as a judge last year.

Not just Indian cricketers but International stars have also featured in reality shows. Former Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram was the judge in a reality dance show, ‘Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena’ along with actress Sushmita Sen in 2008.

#4 Becoming cricket pundits

Akash Chopra will take the role of cricket expert in the next IPL

Former cricketers have majorly taken up the role of cricket commentators and experts after retiring from the game. We have seen a host of former players who have engaged themselves in analysing international matches and commentating during the games.

Navjot Singh Sidhu is the biggest and the most common example of this. Sidhu has taken the role of cricket pundit extensively with the advent of the IPL. He along with another former cricketer Ajay Jadeja has become a familiar face in IPL with their in depth analysis of matches for the organisers.

Recently Akash Chopra who had once played regular test cricket for the Indian team took over the role of a cricket pundit. Other than his opinion columns which regularly appear in the Hindustan Times and CricInfo, Chopra is also currently a guest in SET MAX, who have been telecasting the IPLmatches along with the pre and post match analysis show known as Extraaa Innings T20.

We have also seen former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly investing a lot of his time in cricket commentary and analysing international matches for Star Sports right after he retired from all forms of cricket.

#5 Making a fashion statement

Laxman has been roped in by Star Sports for his insights during the India vs South Africa series

Glitz and glamour have always co-existed with cricket in our country. Cricketers have become instant celebrities and these celebrity cricketers have reaped the benifits of the popularity even after they retired from International cricket.

Yesterday former Indian batsman V.V.S. Laxman who has recently been roped in by the official broadcasters of India vs South Africa series to provide insights into the matches had amazed the crowd by wearing a very vibrant blue shirt which had images of birds imprinted on it.

The Indian team was very impressed by Laxman’s fashion statement. Later in the day, the Indian team, led by Harbhajan Singh, with the likes of Virat Kohli and skipper MS Dhoni in the background, held up a small banner with a special message for Laxman saying how much they loved his shirt.