Cricket is more than a professional sports in India and one needs to be skilled and talented enough to make his way to the Indian team that involves journey from school level, district level, zone level, state level and then into the national team that also comprises IPL performance in the present day. Cricketers have to leave their studies to focus only on the game but like Chemistry, we have an exception in Amay Khurasiya, who actually cleared UPSC examination before he would go on to make his India debut in 1999.
There is no denying that Union Public Services Commission(UPSC) exam is the toughest in the country. The examination is attended by lakh of people every year and it starts with the Preliminary and upon qualification a candidate appears for Mains examination thereafter. If one can pass these two barriers, a tough interview round will await them in Delhi where one needs to be good with their IQ’s, situational questions, contemporary topics and more to finally make their way into LBSNAA in Mussoroie for their training.
Amay Khurasiya, a cricketer who cracked UPSC
Born in 1972, Khurasiya once featured in a star studded Indian line up featuring Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Ajay Jadeja. He was a young prodigy who broke into his state team at the age of 17 and went onto make his India debut in Pepsi Cup against Sri Lanka in 1999.
The middle order batsman will always be remember for his quickfire 57 runs off just 45 balls in the Indian colors. His career for the men in blue just lasted for 12 matches where he scored 149 runs and was last seen in the match against Sri Lanka in 2001. The MP lad was a heavyweight in the domestic circuit, scoring over 7000 runs in just 199 matches. 
However, many few know that before making his India debut, he cracked the UPSC examination. He still followed his passion of playing cricket and went onto make India debut despite having a Civil services job. As per some media reports, Khurasiya now holds the post of an inspector in Indian Customs & Central Excise Department.
In a time when cricket already takes toll mentally and physically and players usually prefer leaving studies, Khurasiya has set an example of managing studies with sports and coming out on the top.
