Anybody can work, but it is really difficult for a person to find something he/she is passionate about. Some people spend their lives never knowing what their passion is. But working towards your passion is tough, as it requires hard work and dedication, and making a career out of your passion is not something that is going to be easy, because you need to find the time to earn a living and work towards making your passion a career. With that, let us look at some cricketers and their past professions:
1. Mitchell Johnson :
Before becoming one of the most successful fast bowlers, Mitchell used to drive a truck. After years of practice, Mitchell finally made it big and is one of the bowlers with a great success rate. Under his belt, he has had 313 wickets in the test format, and in the one-day format, he took 239 wickets.
2. Brad Hodge :
Former Australian batsman Brad Hodge used to reportedly work as a petrol pump employee before making a mark in the field of cricket. His career was not a long one as he made his international debut at the age of 31. He later went on to coach Kings Punjab in the Indian Premier League.
3. Dwayne Leverock :
Before Dwayne started his career in cricket the player from Bermuda was a policeman. However, his career was not as star-studded or the most successful. He is remembered for his acrobatic catch in the 2007 world cup. For the time that he played for Bermuda in the 32 one-day internationals, he only scored 111 runs. He was a right-handed batsman and a left-arm spinner. He played two T20s and racked 34 wickets.
4. Sheldon Cottrell :
Sheldon is a Jamaican Defence soldier who impressed everyone with his skill in the ICC world cup 2019. The west indies fast bowler was the leading wicket-taker as he took dozens of wickets in the edition. He made his debut in Sachin Tendulkar’s career penultimate test match.
5. Shane Bond :
Shane was the best fast bowler that New Zealand had to offer. But before joining the cricket team he was a police officer. However bright his career was it was cut short due to his regular injuries. Bond had 147 wickets in the 82 ODI matches he played and took 25 wickets in the 20 T20I for the Kiwis.
6. Ian Chappell :
Ian Chappell the former Australian skipper is said to be one of the finest and best captains to have ever played the field. It was under his leadership that the Australian team conquered great heights. However, before taking up cricket as a profession he also played baseball at a good level. He managed to score 5345 runs at an average of 42.42 in 75 test matches.
7. Nathan Lyon :
Also named as “GOAT” – greatest of all time by his teammates, Lyon made his first-class debut after only seven months as a Test cricketer. In 2010 he has taken up a job in the Adelaide Oval groundstaff where
his bowling talent was spotted by the Redback’s Coach Darren Berry. By 2015 he had made his way to become one of Australia’s best Test off-spinners of all time.
8. Mahendra Singh Dhoni :
M.S.Dhoni is said to have one of the most inspiring stories of his rise to success as a cricketer. Before making a mark in cricket he worked as a travelling ticket examiner at the Kharagpur railway station from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 he joined the Indian cricket team and since then the world has known him as one of the best captains of the Indian cricket team who led the team in the 2007 T20 World cup, the 2011 World cup, and the Champions trophy.
9. Yuzvendra Chahal:
Before his journey as a cricketer, Yuzvendra represented India in Chess at various youth levels. Now he is most famous for his spin bowling and the tactics and logic he uses and a former chess player to put the batsmen in a blind. He is seen playing regularly in the One day matches and the T20 series.
10. Varun Chakravarty:
Varun’s story is an odd and miraculous one. He played as a batsman and wicketkeeper till the age of 17 but soon followed the rejection by age group cricket multiple times. After facing rejection he applied for an architecture degree but after getting bored with his work and made his debut in Tamil Nadu after which he was selected for IPL for his impressive bowling. He has also made his appearance in the Indian Cricket Team.
