5 unexpected hobbies of famous cricketers

The gentleman's game has been the platform for many cricketers to come into the limelight. They came, they performed and they conquered the world with their on field exploits. However, their lives off the pitch remains a mystery to many, until of course, controversy strikes.Cricketers too have hobbies, their ways of spending time off the pitch and some of them have hobbies that we could never imagine, given their personality on the cricket field. Here is a list of five players with absolutely unexpected hobbies.

#1 Matthew Hayden (Gardeneing/ Cooking)

Hayden with a plant in his garden

The former Australian opening batsman has put his time after retirement to good use. The stout Aussie is now a cook and an organic gardener. “The farmer in me wants to reconnect to the land, the cook wants to grow his own vegies and the dad wants his kids to know where their food comes from,” Hayden said in an interview.

“I love getting all my cricket mates together and having a barbie around the fire pit. I’ll cook up something like lamb with garlic and rosemary and salt-rolled potatoes in their jackets with garlic chives and crème fraiche,” the 44 year old added.

#2 MS Dhoni (Hair styling/listening to Ghazals))

MS Dhoni styling bollywood actor John Abraham’s hair

Biking is quite populary known as a hobby of Indian ODI and T20 captain. What is overshadowed is his love for retro bollywood music and ghazals. Dhoni loves listening to songs by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar during his leisure hours. The robust wicket keeping batsman with long hair could not be though of as a ghazal addict.

MS Dhoni is also a self made hair stylist and his experiments with hairstyles are well noticed. The Indian team captain has been the talk of the Bollywood town in past years for his unusual and sensational hair styles.

#3 Sourav Ganguly (Anchoring)

Sourav Ganguly hosting a reality show

The ‘Dada’ from Bengal, besides taking charge of the Cricket Associaton of Bengal (CAB) also hosts popular TV show in Kolkata called ‘Dadagiri’. Named with a reference to his nick name, the quiz show airs on a regional channel called Zee Bangla.

Ganguly also hosts another start-up based reality show called ‘Egiye Bangla’ on Zee Bangla too. The Calcuttan has his own way of conducting his business in his home city. Loved by all, and endearingly called ‘Dada’ by his fans, the former Indian skipper is one of the brand ambassadors of Kolkata besides the Kolkata IPL franchise owner, Shah Rukh Khan.

#4 Suresh Raina (Singing)

Suresh Raina at the recording studio

Suresh Raina is gifted with bundles of musical talent besides the cricketing exploits during his career. The left-handed batsman recently sung for a film called Meeruthiya Gangsrters, and was praised by several critics for the song. The song is titled 'Tu Mili Sab Mila'.

Raina said, “I love old hindi songs and immediately came on board for this melodious track,” in an interview later. The track released by Zee Music company has already reached close to a million views on YouTube.

#5 Herschelle Gibbs (Meeting childhood heroes)

Herschelle Gibbs with his childhood idols Naas and Danie

Herschelle Gibbs has taken to meeting heroes from his childhood post his retirement. Besides his pursuits in golf and rugby the former South African batsman has also taken to social media to reply to his fans and post articles.

Gibbs finds great pleasure at meeting his childhood heroes. Only recently he posted in his instagram account a photo with his childhood idols. The Proteas batsman had also recently released his own autobiography recently.