Top five cricketers who had excelled in academics as well

Anil Kumble with teammates after his farewell testThough the origin of cricket can be traced back to the early 16th century in England, it wasn’t introduced in India until the late 18th century. And in just over a couple of hundred of years, the sport has attained the reputation of a religion in the subcontinent. Here in India, we don’t really support our team- be it an international match or an IPL game- we literally worship them. The players are not just merely human beings in our eyes, they are more like demigods.But have we ever wondered, how these ‘demigods’ had fared back when they were in schools and colleges? Here is a list of top five cricketers who had been outstanding in academics as well:

#1 William Gilbert WG Grace

WG Grace in action against Chesterfield

The old man of the sport who is widely considered as one of the greatest cricketers of all time was a medical practitioner. The Big Un though never went to any university since his father wanted him to pursue a medical career.

He was once approached by both Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. Instead, a 20-year-old William Grace enrolled himself at Bristol Medical School in 1868. In 1879, Grace qualified as a medical practitioner.

Grace stacked up 1,098 international runs for England in the 22 test matches that he had played scoring 5 fifties and a couple of hundreds in the process.

#2 Mike Brearely

Ex-England captain Mike Brearley in action

Ex-England batsman Mike Brearley, who has captained England in 31 of the 39 matches that he has played, is surely one of the most highly educated cricketers in the history of the sport. He has studied for seven years at Cambridge University, both as an undergraduate and a graduate student, and is a qualified psychotherapist and psychoanalyst.

The batsman who has racked up around 2,000 runs in international cricket also has an Honorary Fellowship from Cambridge and an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University. His ‘Art of Captaincy’ is extensively regarded as one of the best books on cricket captaincy.

Mike Brearley has scored 1,442 test runs for England at an average of 22.88.

#3 Anil Kumble

Kumble at the LG ICC Awards Press Conference

Born in the year 1970, Anil Kumble is undoubtedly one of the best leg spinners to have ever played the sport. The ex-Indian test skipper attended National High School, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru. Like almost all Indian kids, he started playing cricket on the streets of Bengaluru and later joined a club ‘Young Cricketers’ when he was just 13.

Kumble completed his pre-university college education from National Degree College and later went on to graduate in Bachelor of Engineering from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering in 1991–92.

The Indian leg-spinner has wrapped up 956 international wickets for India with a career-best bowling figure of 10 for 74 in test matches against Pakistan at Feroze Shah Kotla stadium.

#4 Javagal Srinath

CaptionSrinath celebrating the dismissal of Salim Malik at Eden Gardens

Anil Kumble’s ex-India and Karnataka team-mate Javagal Srinath has not only made his nation proud by wrapping up more than 500 international wickets but has also officiated 24 test matches, 122 ODIs and 25 T20 international matches as an ICC match referee.

Srinath, who made his test debut against Australia in 1991 holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Instrumental Technology from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore.

The ex-Indian spearhead has a career total of 551 international wickets and represented his country in four world cups (1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003).

#5 Imran Khan

Imran Khan speaking at an interview in Islamabad

The legendary Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician is one of the most learned men in cricket. Imran Khan, Pakistan’s most successful cricket captain who guided its national cricket team to glory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, enrolled himself in Keble College, Oxford University where he studied philosophy, politics and economics.

Khan, who is a descendant of the famous Sufi warrior-poet, Pir Roshan - graduated with a second class degree in politics and economics in the year 1975.

Imran Khan is arguably the best all-rounder Pakistan has ever produced and has scored more than 7,500 international runs. He has also picked up over 500 international wickets and guided the South Asian country to their only World Cup triumph in 1992.