Dhoni 'bhaiyya' B Com?

Memonics

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one hears, has enrolled towards a degree in commerce. If this is not just an endorsement for promoting education in Jharkhand (though this is laudable too), it adds another fascinating dimension to this cricketer.

It is not that educated young men are new to cricket. In fact, one of the game’s immortals and earliest icons was WG Grace, who was a qualified doctor, and there have been several in his wake who have distinguished themselves academically. In India, particularly, the tradition of ‘educated’ cricketers had been strong: for reasons on how the game had been structured by the Board, as well as socio-economic factors.

While cricket prospered and proliferated in India because of the benediction of ‘royals’ in the distant past, the vast majority of players were from the middle class where education was assigned much greater value than sport. Job security ran concurrently with playing sport, so most kids had to ensure that they worked towards a reasonable academic qualification, just in case. A brief list of players with post-graduate qualifications given below would help understand this:

Jahangir Khan, PhD (Cambridge); Dilawar Hussain, PhD, LLB, MA; C Ramaswami, MA (Cambridge); IAK Pataudi (Sr), MA (Oxford); MK Mantri, MA; CT Sarwate, BA, LLB (finger-print expert); RV Divecha, MA (Oxford); CT Patankar, MSc; AK Sen Gupta, MA; AA Baig, MA (Oxford); MAK Pataudi (Jr), MA (Oxford); S Venkataraghvan, B Engg; A Gandotra, MA (Eco); Parthasarathy Sharma, MA; SS Naik, MSc; AD Gaekwad, M Com; K Srikkanth, B Engg; Arun Lal, MA; Anil Kumble, B Engg; Javagal Srinath, B Engg; SS Karim, MBA

Till it was sadly scrapped, the Vizzy Trophy which showcased talent from the universities, was the lifeline for domestic (and hence) international cricket in India almost till the 80s. But the bigger impact was made by economic liberalisation that came in the 90s, following which the rewards for exceptional talent became so high as to make academic qualifications superfluous.

Sachin Tendulkar became the strongest metaphor of this change, and the lack of formal education today is no longer considered a drawback, either in peer groups or for wider social recognition. Indeed, Tendulkar is the cricket world’s most illustrious and admired figure and a role icon across continents even amongst those who know very little about the game.

Of course, formal education and ‘big’ degrees are of no great help in playing any sport. Given below are some of the all-time cricketing greats, none of whom could boast of any MAs and LLBs, and this list tells a wonderful story of how native intelligence, passion and commitment can combine with talent to produce a world beater.

Don Bradman, at 12, attended Bowral Public School. At 14, left school in 1922 and went to work for a local real estate agent Viv Richards attended secondary school (St John’s Boys School and Antigua Grammar School) Gary Sobers attended secondary school (Bay Street Boys’ School in Barbados). At 14, left school to join a furniture making shop Sachin Tendulkar, SSC (Shardasharam High School). Attended few months of junior college (Khalsa College) in Mumbai, while he was still a Test cricketer Denis Lillee attended Belmay Primary School, at Belmont in Perth. Left school at 15, went to work in a clothing warehouse

Brian Lara, at 14, attended Fatima College, which is a government-assisted, selective Roman Catholic boys’ secondary school in Port of Spain. Later on, he also received an honourary doctorate from the University of Sheffield, in January 2007.

Yet, what impresses me about Dhoni is both his sense of humility and ambition outside the cricketing arena. At 27, he is not exactly a ‘fresher’, but what is interesting is that he should see formal education as necessary to add to his life’s repertoire. And what is admirable is that he should consider this important in spite of having achieved enough fame and money to last several lifetimes already.