India is a nation where you become an engineer first and then choose what you want to do with your life. Then there is cricket which is not just a sport for us, but very nearly a religion. Cricketers are celebrities. A number of them left their education for the sport. But there are many cricketers who are highly educated and hold engineering degrees. Read ahead to find out if your favorite cricketers made the list of cricketers who are engineers.
1. Anil Kumble
The highest wicket-taker for India in both formats is also one of the most famous engineer turned cricketer. Kumble might have utilized his analytical skills to bowl over the best batsmen? He has a B.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. Talking about the importance of education, Kumble once, “It helps to balance the good and bad. In cricket, you can’t guarantee success, so education equips you to deal with it.”
2. Krishnamachari Srikanth
Krishnamchari Srikanth, also known as Kris Srikkanth, is another cricketer who holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He used to play cricket at different levels during his engineering days, but it was only during his fourth year of college that he thought he could become a test cricketer.
3. Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan
It was this cricketer’s misfortune that he was born in an era where India had 3 front-line spinners apart from him. And so, Venkatraghvan’s statistics of 156 wickets from 57 matches don’t seem very impressive. He was still undoubtedly one of the best spinners to have represented India. S Venkatraghvan is also a qualified engineer from College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He is an all-rounder in true sense – great player, respected umpire & an engineer by qualification.
4. Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath holds B.E. Degree in Instrumentation Technology from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysuru. He too feels that education is very important. He said, “You may feel clubbing education with cricket is a tough task in life. Going by the experience of cricketers like me, Anil Kumble and Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who have pursued engineering, it is not a difficult task to club education with cricket.” He added, “Further, cricket is security in life too. Many may not be able to scale greater heights in cricket. In such circumstances, one may think of opting another career in life.”
5. EAS Prasanna
He holds an engineering degree from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysusru. Prasanna once said about engineering and cricket, “My degree helped me in understanding biomechanics and aerodynamics. The analytical aspect of engineering helps you analyze better.”
6. Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin has a B.Tech Degree of Information from SSN College of Engineering, Chennai. Ashwin is also one of the players, who had a very hard time during his course of engineering. Ashwin had once said, “As for my engineering degree, my parents put me through it after I played my Under-17 cricket.”
