Vinod Kambli, coming up in the 1980s and 90s, was regarded as an extremely gifted batter. Alongside him came Sachin Tendulkar into the picture, while there is a debate about who is more talented. Some consider it was Kambli and some consider it was Tendulkar, but at the end of the day, it was Tendulkar who has been able to convert his potential into runs where whereas Kambli failed to deliver the promise.
Kambli’s brother, Virendra, speaking in an interview about the talent and the relationship between Kambli and Tendulkar. “Both had the same talent. You can’t say my brother was greater than Sachin or vice versa. They were both the same. I never heard my brother say he was better than Sachin,” Virendra said in an interview with Vickey Lalwani.
“Sachin dada has always supported Vinod. Their friendship is still very strong. Sachin calls and checks on him with Andrea (Hewitt, Vinod’s wife),” Virendra revealed.
“Sachin dada. He was closest to him. I don’t know about others, but I saw them together when I went to watch Ranji Trophy matches. I would go to the dressing room to eat, and Sachin dada, Vinod, and I would sit together and have fun. We would joke around and have a good time,” Virendra said.
Kambli at 19 had swagger
Nasa Hussain is the head groundsman at Park Avenue ground in Bradford in England, an area dominated by those with roots in Pakistan and India. He, like Kambli, is in his 50s now. In the early 90s, they were young cricketers with dreams.
Kambli was 19 but he had the swagger of a Test veteran. “As a South Asian, Sachin joining Yorkshire was big news. I’ll tell you what was better, he brought along with him his friend Vinod Kambli, who played in our league. I’ve never-ever met a person who hits the ball as hard as he used to,” he says.
Nasa still remembers the first ball he bowled to him. “He just runs down the track and hits the first ball for six, and you think, ‘well okay’. Young man from India, never seen before, never heard of before, and he just comes and smashes it. Subsequently, he went on to score two double-hundreds against England. That was some talent,” he says before seamlessly switching to a rueful tone. “In today’s day and age, that guy would have been a multi-millionaire.”
