Today is the birthday of a cricketer who was considered to be two steps ahead of Sachin Tendulkar in talent. Who had already started batting in a haphazard manner before the arrival of T20 cricket. Which in his first four Test matches he hit two double centuries. Also, the feat of making the fastest 1000 runs in the test was also done. But still that player could play the test for three years only and 17 Tests came to his part. This player is Vinod Kambli. Born in Mumbai on 18 January 1972, Kambli had created a lot of possibilities but he could not become a long race horse. His career has been full of controversies and that is why he got a break before time. How was his journey in cricket, let's know.
Vinod Kambli was born in a poor family in Kanjurmarg, a suburban area of Mumbai. His father was a mechanic but it was not easy to feed the family of seven people. He was also a cricketer in his time. He was a fast bowler. Vinod Kambli gave his talent in cricket despite the poverty. He used to travel in local trains to Shivaji Park. Then one day he formed a 664-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. It was the biggest partnership at that time. Vinod Kambli scored an unbeaten 349 in this match. Then in bowling too, he created magic. And took six wickets for 37 runs.
Sixes off the first ball in the first class match
The fate of Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar kept colliding with each other. But where Sachin flew rapidly towards international cricket. At the same time Vinod had to go forward step by step. Sachin made his Ranji debut for Mumbai in 1988. Vinod debuted in 1989. Then in December 1989, Sachin became part of the Indian team for the tour of Pakistan. While Vinod was in the Indian U-19 team at this time. He was accompanied by names like Sourav Ganguly, Ajay Jadeja. Well Vinod also started his first class career strongly. He had hit a six on the very first ball.
Two double centuries in four Tests
In January 1993, he made his debut in the Kolkata Test against England. Then he scored a double century in his third Test. He scored 224 runs in the Mumbai Test. After this, he again scored a double century against Zimbabwe in the next Test. This time he scored 227 runs in the Delhi Test. Then he scored 125 runs against Sri Lanka. In this way he scored a century in three consecutive innings. In this way, Vinod completed 1000 Test runs in only 14 innings while scoring consecutive runs. With this, the batsman who became the fastest 1000 Test runs for India also became. Only this fast was done by Herbert Sutcliffe, Everton Weeks, Don Bradman and Neil Harvey.
Vinod Kambli could play only 17 Tests for India. After doing amazing work in the initial days, he was out on zero out of six innings. This led to his exit from the team. Complaints about discipline also overshadowed him. But from India, his test average is more than many veterans. Vinod's test average is 54.2. It is more than Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag.
1996 World Cup and career eclipse
Vinod brought the 1996 World Cup eclipse for Kambli's career. India were eliminated from the semi-finals in this tournament. He had to face defeat from Sri Lanka due to the specter of spectatorship. Vinod Kambli wept on seeing this. After this, he was dropped from the team. Though came back again but could never show the same game as before. In this way, in the year 2000, he played the last match for India. He scored 1084 runs in 17 MATs and 2477 runs in 104 ODIs in Tests.
After being away from cricket, Vinod Kambli also went to the movies and fought elections. But here too his coin did not work. He also had many problems in family life. He later converted to Christianity after marrying his second wife Andrea.