Top 10 international cricketers and their past professions.

Sometimes you all must be wondering why there are words like “luck”, “opportunities” being associated with an article related to cricket but yes there are these “luck factors” in cricket as well. There are many players who did not dream about playing cricket on the biggest level and they continued leading their lives with their respective professions as all others do. Here is the list of 10 International cricketers which had their past in some or the other professions:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni- Ticket Checker

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and ICC trophies are very much synonymous and related to each other as he has won the maximum number of ICC trophies as a captain. This man with a “Midas Touch” didn’t have his past background related to cricket. He was a ticket checker employed with the Indian Railways at Kharagpur from 2001-2003. In 2004, he was spotted in the International level and that made his life much more easier than a ticket checker.

Brad Hodge- Petrol Pump employee

Brad Hodge is one of the most prolific run-scorer for Australia but he is highly regarded for his performance in Australian domestic one day matches as he has scored highest number of centuries(20). He worked as a petrol pump employee in Mentone,Victoria. He would’ve never imagined that he would end up being one of the most talented batsman from a petrol pump employee.

Shane Bond- Police Officer

Often regarded as one of the fastest and legendary bowlers of all time, New Zealand former fast bowler Shane Bond had his past as a respectable police officer employed at Christchurch Police station. Probably no one in Christcurch knew that their police officer would end up being reffered to as the next Richard Hadlee.

Nathan Lyon- Ground Staff at Adelaide

Nathan Lyon holds the record for the most wickets in test cricket by an Australian off-spinner. He was in love with the game right from his childhood days and such was his relation with cricket that he was a member of the groundstaff at Adelaide while he continued to play cricket at the domestic level. He would assist the groundsmen in various tasks such as covering the ground,driving roller on the pitch and many more things. He toiled hard and hard to make a place in the Australian team and once he did, there was no looking back from there.

AB De Villiers

He no less than a superman as he is a multitalented guy. He received a medal for a science project.
Our message to Junoir AB-

"Your dad was shortlisted for South Africa's junior national hockey and football team, captain of South Africa's junior national rugby team, holds six South African school swimming records and the fastest 100m time in South Africa's junior athletics. He was also U19 national badminton champion, a member of South Africa's junior Davis Cup tennis team and received a medal from Nelson Mandela for a science project. He has a golf handicap of scratch, and is also quite good at cricket.No pressure, kid."

Joe Dawes- Policeman

Joe Dawes the Australian quickie was the bowling coach for India in 2012. He played for Queensland and was often the part of the Australian squad. He started out his personal life as a policeman. He was employed with Queensland police to serve the people and he eventually turned out to be a fine right arm fast bowler. He worked for the Queensland police for nearly 8 years.

 Ian Chappel- Baseball player

Known widely as “a player with effect rather than grace”, Ian Chappel was one of the most successful players and captain of the Australian cricket team. It was under him that Australia got its status as “The Ugly Australians”. He didn’t want to be a cricketer in the first place, he was quite interested in baseball. He was also selected for the national team as he was a recognized player in baseball. But no doubt that his natural swing of the bat was inherited from his baseball stint.

Dwayne Leverock-Policeman

Here comes another policeman, Dwayne Leverock is a Bermudian player who is remembered as a heavy cricketer who picked a splendid catch in the ICC World Cup in 2007. He has a past working as a policeman and he continues to do so by driving a prison van in Bermuda.

Shane Warne- Part-time Footballer(Australian Rules Football)

One of the greatest spinners to have ever played the history of the game Shane Warne the invincible Aussie indeed had a great interest in cricket from his childhood players but he played a good number of football games for St.Kilda’s Football club as he was equally interested in Australian rules football but he soon was delisted by the club and once again his focus returned to cricket. He would’ve never regretted his delisting from his football club as he proved to be a big thing in the world cricket.

Dipak Chudasma

Dipak Chudasma a cricketer from Kenya was an opening batsman for his team. He was also a table tennis player and represented Kenya at the International level in Commonwealth Games in 1982. This was prior to his stint in cricket.

“There is a short window at beginning of one’s professional lives,when it is comparatively easy to take big risks. Make the most of that time, before circumstances makes your risks averse”

- Joshua Foer.