Bought for over Rs 200000000 at IPL 2025 Mega Auction, this cricketer is pursuing PHD now, says ‘you will interview me as Dr… soon’

This top Indian cricketer already has a MBA degree in Finance and left a job offer from Deloitte to pursue his cricketing dreams in IPL.

It is not very often that you come across cricketers who are excellent in academics as well. Former India captain Anil Kumble springs to mind with a degree in Mechanical Engineering while current Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is definitely an intellectual with a B. Tech. degree in Information Technology.

But a cricketer with a Ph.D. degree is definitely a rarity. We could have that soon in India and surprisingly it will be one of the costliest cricketers from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction last month. We are talking about Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder and possibly their next captain Venkatesh Iyer.

The Madhya Pradesh all-rounder was bought back for a whopping Rs 23.75 crore by Shah Rukh Khan-owned KKR last month. It is just reward for someone, who rejected a job offer from one of the top 4 accounting firms in the world – Deloitte.

In 2018, after completing his MBA in Finance, Venkatesh Iyer received an offer from Deloitte but decided to turn it down and pursue his cricketing dreams in Indore. But now the KKR all-rounder has revealed that he is pursuing PhD in Finance alongside his cricketing career.

“I want cricketers to educate themselves not just with cricketing knowledge, but general knowledge as well. If you can complete your graduation or post-graduation, you definitely should. I am pursuing my PhD (finance) now. You will be interviewing me as Dr Venkatesh Iyer next time!” Venkatesh told Indian Express in an interview.

Venkatesh Iyer : “Education will stay with you till you die. A cricketer cannot play till 60. Being an educated person helps me to make better decisions on the field as well. I am pursuing my PHD (Finance). You will be interviewing me as Dr. Venkatesh Iyer next time.”

[Express… pic.twitter.com/luMMbclh7F

— KKR Vibe (@KnightsVibe) December 9, 2024

Venkatesh Iyer hit the jackpot at IPL mega auction

The all-rounder would have been disappointed at not being retained by the IPL 2024 champions. But KKR and RCB got engaged in an intense bidding war to get the services of Iyer for the next season. Despite getting a hefty amount from KKR, Venkatesh Iyer wants to balance his cricketing career alongside the life after it.

“I come from an orthodox family, so it is tough to convince middle-class parents that I will pursue only cricket. But it was the other way around. I was big on academics. My parents wanted me to do well in the game as well. If a new guy walks into the MP (Madhya Pradesh) team, the first thing I ask him is ‘padhai kar rahe ho ki nahi?’ (are you studying or not?). Education will stay with you till you die, a cricketer cannot play till 60. You have to understand that there is a shelf life. After that, if you want to really excel in life, you have to be educated,” Iyer added.

Venkatesh Iyer’s education helps him on the cricket field

During the IPL 2024 season, Venkatesh Iyer had scored 370 runs at an average of 46.25. He was KKR’s first buy at the mega auction and they had retained Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy.

Venkatesh Iyer felt that his education would help him make better decisions on the field as well. “Academics can give me the perfect switch-off from the game. I don’t want to be thinking of the game all the time, it adds pressure. If I can do two things at the same time, I will. Being an educated person, it helps me make better decisions on the field as well. There will be a situation when it won’t be just about the skill but whether you can make a better decision,” he added.