Perhaps Kambli can reinspire himself and dazzle in IPL/ 20-20.

He still can, and the time for him to do it in this lifetime, is now.

Its really very sad...at one time in his career, he over shadowed sachin and was the most entertaining player in the team. He should have been handled better way by BCCI but most of the (dis)credit goes to him for not handling his professional (and personal) life incorrectly.

I still cannot forget the match in which he took some 20+ runs off Shane Warne at Sharjah...awesome stuff

Another classic case of talent going to waste in Indian Cricket...

The announcement was just one way of getting some media attention. As a cricketer he had received underserving media attention considering that the bulk of his runs came against club level attacks. He did precious little even in the first class arena. If only the selectors had given batsmen like S Sharath, Amol Majumdar, S Suguvekar who had amassed huge first class scores for years, at least one of them would have gone better than this bloke. If indeed a player has to remembered for clobbering a bowler in a single over, can we forget Atul Bedade? Or Sandeep Patil?

Kambli was a bloody talent. Sometimes, the individual loses to the crowd, the collectivism. His talent and his failures made him human and he was never allowed a chance to redeem himself. He might have known. He might have developed into a Brian lara or atleast Graham Thorpe. But he failed to compromise. He's , was and will ever be Vinod Kambli. That's why he dint get picked and that's why he is a legend.....

No, the middle order would not provide him a cushion, in fact it was the emergence of this strong middle order that pushed Kambli totally out into the sidelines. Tendulkar, Dravid and especially Ganguly (the equivalent left hander) who kept Kambli out with their strong batting displays. And in the beginning there was Azharuddin, and later on when Laxman and Sehwag came in, Kambli had to be forgotten. He was unfortunate to be playing in a period when India's best middle order was playing. During any other period, he may have got a second chance.

Its incorrect to say Kambli was all style and no substance. All one can say is that Kambli was not level headed ( it was not surprising becoz of the background he came from). Wish some level headed person could have advised him at the right moment. Its certainly India's loss to have lost this spectacular talent

He is a good player against spin, but against pace, he is not technically accomplished. He never inspired confidence in me even though he scored couple of double centuries. The reasons are his susceptibility in offside against pace bowlers. England in 1993 had a very mediocre bowling and their batting too was weak. Double century against Zimbabwe attack which included waning Tricos and Brandes. Surprisingly, I feel Kambli was persisted in Test and ODI's for longer than deserved. Bedade was a better batsman than Kambli. But he was not given any proper opportunities.

Kambli made a very impressive debut which was the reason for is popularity. He had some shortcomings but he did not get the treatment he deserved. Had he been given the long rope that was given to ganguly, who knows India might have had more runs.

Saying Kambli is all style no substance does not necessarily close the lid on a very peculiar case in Indian cricket in the last 15 years.Kambli was always given the raw deal from the selectors who pressed for Tendulkar success then the extended Kambli success story.I clearly remember the 1993 season when Kambli clearly cemented his position at No.3 in the batting order by hittin 4 well compiled 50s in the Hero Cup only to be shunted down at No.6 to accomodate Sachin at the opening slot on the next NZ Tour.His once towering confidence was shattered as he was alwayz shunted as per the needs where in undeserving blokes enjoyed their favourite slots.The most recent instance of selectorial blunders include playing Jadeja against SA in Test on Kamblis Fav venue Wankhede instead of letting d latter out on his revival path from oblivion.Kambli was enjoyin gret form in domestic season n who knows had he played n performed,the Sehwag Laxman stories which followed mite never had been scripted.

Kambli and Tendulkar for me who was just exposed to cricket during and after 92 worlds were like Jackie and Anil of Ram Lakhan. I was a school boy and just loved them. Often me and my bro would play Sachin and Kambli.. it was fun time similarly like it is today with Yuvraj. I think Yuvraj and Kambli are same on many counts, only difference is Azhar and Ganguly. Ganguly handled Yuvi in a better way and he can only become better if not great from here

Moin--
kambli never overshadow tendulkar,infact tendulkar was so talented that gavaskar before his debut told that he is going to break all records.
don't compare every cricketer to tendulkar,it an insult to cricket.

Kambli was as good as tendulkar if not better. If one talks of level headedness then you can also look at Chris Gayle who publicly admits that T20 is what he prefers to Test cricket instead of being a captain of an international test match side. But he is given an extended run by the WI selectors because he can still win matches for the team. And @ Shahbaba, Kambli is a better player of fast bowler than Sourav ganguly. I have witnessed him hitting King Curtly for a six off a hook shot which I think, even tendulkar haven't hit. That was just an indication of his pace bowling playing ability.

Bismoy--

Its easy to say nw that not anybody can be compared 2 Sachin....but we all knw wat talent Kambli was....any frm bbay who used 2 keep track of cricket in late 80s n early 90s would knw abt his talent....Its true dat @ those stages Kambli was on par , if not a touch above Sachin and its a fact dat his career was played around with 2 accomodate Sachin as an opener by pushing him down d order @ 6...its true dat he went wayward wit his career but @ d same time BCCI n Azhar cud hv handled him properly which they didnt n its a fact....

Hi,
Yeaaahhh!! Kambli was indeed stylish and flamboyant. I still remember the catch that he took.. He was at covers and he dives a little bit to hit right to take the catch and then throws the ball up in the air and does the shooting-with-the-machine-gun kind of animation.. fully pepped up with energy. Yes, it indeed was a transformation for Indian cricket.

No doubt Kambli didnt have the temperment to handle the pressure of international cricket.Regarding his talent I am not too sure, who can forget the 40 odd runs he scored as opener in 1991(sharjah)against pak attack of Imran, Akram younis and Aaquib or the 18 odd runs of warne (1994) or the 40 odd runs in the first session against walsh, cuffy and co(1994) or the treatment to murli (1993/94) or his double double. Between 93-94 he was the best batsman.Suddley bowlers were exploiting his weakness to bouncers and the shuffle to offstump. I remeber his leg stump uprooted by pak pacemen a few times in 1994/95. Certainly there were some problem with his rechnique.
Sanjat Manj'raker was a better techician but he too failed to survive and impress, though he too played some outstanding knocks against pak pacemen in 1989 series.
For Kambli everything happened too quick-in a matter of 3 years (1992 - 95) his rise to glory and his fall from it.

kambli was never as good as tendulkar,kambli hit curtly for six but even ganguly has hit great fast bowler for six,but both ganguly and kambli has weakness against genuine fast bowling.kambli was exposed in 94 series against westindies.if he had so much talented why gavaskar only projected tendulkar as next big thing before tendulkar played any international match,why not kambli????
surely gavaskar has more knowledge more than any of us here!!!!!!!!!!!

Would be interesting to know how well Kambli did in the domestic circuit after he was dropped. People like VVS scored heavily after being dropped and forced their way in. If my memory serves me right, kambli really did not do well enough to make a case for his re-selection by scoring heavily in the domestic circuit. May be some statistician from Cricinfo can can get some data on this.

Good talent, but extraordinarily poor soft skills which did him in.

No wonder why be begrudges Sachin for not helping him enough on television.

Dude, but then you are responsible for your behavior and its repurcussions at the end of the day. The least you could have done during your days was to have watched and learnt from the senior pros in the team.

We wish you the best of luck for all your future ventures.

@ Bismoy
Gavaskar has praised Kambli umpteenth times in his columns during 1996 - 2000. I still remember one heading of Gavaskar's columns as "Dessy days are here again", when Kambli scored heavily in domestic in 1998. Dessy was pet name of Desmond Haynes, but in Mumbai team Kambli was known as Dessy. In another column Gavaskar suggested Kambli that "if selectors are deaf enough to here you are knocking the doors of selection, break the door with your performance."
And I have an old Issue of Cricket-Bharti (93 edition), in which Alan Border had predicted that Sachin and Kambli (not Lara) had the talent to break his record of most runs in test cricket. So those who have seen Kambli's batting and have knowledge of true cricket (not baseball cricket - T20), have never doubted that Sach and Vinod both had equal talent.
The theory that Kambli was exposed against fast bowling in 1994 (Windies) has no base since Kambli scored 100 against same attack in 96 WC when top order (inc. Sach) failed

Atul Bedade was ha hard hitter and could have succeeded in shorter version, if he was handled well by the selectors; may be he was as good as Shahid Afridi. But comparision with Vinod Kambli... NO WAY.
Kambli was flamboyant, though he used to play with class and use to remind us of Clive Llyod, with his high backlift.
@ Vikas
Kambli did fare enough in domestic to be recalled, but every time he was recalled for ODI's and never considered for tests. Selectors have several examples of their moronness. Another examples is of Gautam Gambhir. When he was playing well in domestic, he scored well in challanger and scored a double hundred in a day's time against touring Zimbabwe in 2002 (for board president), he was not chosen for test opener against the Zimbabwe. And the selectors later given him a chance to open against mighty Aussies, when he failed. As a result, he missed 2 - 3 crucial years of international cricket and that too after performing well in ODI's and T20.

Consider the facts of First Class Cricket records of the GREAT INDIAN MIDDLE ORDER:

Ganguli: 242 Match, 44 Ave. 31 100s

Laxman: 230 Matches, 52 Ave. 49 100s

Dravid: 261 Matches, 55 Ave. 56 100s

Sachin: 261 Matches, 58.70 Ave. 69 100s

AND legendary Sunil Gavaskar: 348 matches, 52 Ave. 81 100s

Now compare these legends with Kambli's record -

129 Matches, 59.70 Ave. 35 100s.

The comparison itself ends the debate conclusively over the talent of Kambli. He was one of the leading scorer and century makers for Mumbai. But the role of bad luck (twisted ankle injury while fielding for Azhar as substitute, forced him out for an year, Jaundice cost him another year) and ironic decisions of the selectors (that's why Jimmy Amarnath called them a bunch of Jokers) made sure his failure.

In older days nobody talks with such disrespect to the players who did well in domestic but failed or did not get opportunity on international level like Ghulam Parkar, Ashok Mankad or Padmakar Shivalkar.

In his piece,Suhas says abt Kambli "When he first arrived on the scene, India's batting was somewhat lacking in the 'style' quotient, being more sedate than sledgehammer. Kapil Dev was on the wane, Sachin Tendulkar was yet to fully come into his own, and Azhar was still a caresser, not a bludgeoner". I agree with the gist of the article, but I personally feel, and many would agree-Azhar was always a caresser, never a bludgeoner. In Azhar's case, it was 'murder in the form of poetry'-to paraphrase Cardus.

I hardly see enough evidence to conclude that kambli had no substance. He played for only 14 tests and had a average in the mid-fifties. Didn't he merit another chance?
I agree that the Indian middle order is not the easiest place to penetrate, but a certain Sourav Ganguly played 53 tests between 2000 and 2005 at an average of 35. I wonder if things would have been different if we did not wait till the Greg Chappel fiasco to put poor performance in proper place.

Dear Suhas,

Thanks a million for this wonderful article. It really brought back happy memories from times long gone by. For a moment I was transported back to my school days in the early 90s. Looking back, its hard not to get the feeling of what might have been.

I guess Kambli is India's very own Graham Hick minus the countless opportunities at redemption.

Its very unfortunate for someone of kambli's talent but he can still consider himself very lucky that he played for india how many talented people dont get opportunity i think kambli's career s eye opener for people n future cricketers that its not only about talent u got but discipline also very important wid money n fame u always keep your head right we got prime example of sachin n dravid the way they handle themself on n off the field i always like kambli i really feel bad when i was watching him on reality shaw same time his generation player were playing ipl here in south-africa but end of the its life must carry on

If anything gnaws at my heart about indian cricket past (that I remember), is how kambli was reduced to nothing by selectors. His attitude did't help either.

For those of us that grew up in the 90's, who actually Kambli play, and not just read his stats, will surely agree that he definately displayed solid flashes of genius, specifically in 1993 on England's tour of the subcontinent. He was absolutely, maddeningly brilliant in that Test series. Having said that, it was just one test series, and greatness, of course, is earned with time, patience, andf fortitude. The problem with kambli was often what we see in many young people who achieve super stardom at a tender age. Kambli had a terrible attitude, and seemed to concentrate more on number of grips on his handle, the amount of gold he flashed, and ohter utterly worthless endeovers that had nothing to do with cricket. Add to it, Kambli did not have consistency nor proper technique on his side, which was on ample display at times. Even more apparent was his lack of a good head on his shoulders. As such I do not consider Kambli a "lost great" from that generation. In fact, someone who I thought had more talent and less pomp than Kambli, from the same era, was one Sanjay Manjrekar. Manjrekar was perfection personefied. So much so, that it may have even cost him his potential greatness. And yes, those were times I enjoyed. Times when cricket was raw and unadulterated. Going back to Kambli, is indeed sad, the way his career has eneded in utter failure and ingnonomy. He could have done much more for himself and the national team. But then so could have many others. All in all, Kambli's career is what it is: A brief shining moment in 1993, everything else a whimper. Good Article. Excellent analysis of Kambli's career.

@ Vishwaranjan
Just a small point - Kambli DID NOT make a hundred against WI in the 1996 World Cup. India played only one match against WI in that World Cup, in which WI were bowled out for 173 and India made 174/5 to win. And incidentally, Sachin Tendulkar DID NOT fail in that match. He made 70 and was the top scorer.

@ Pranav
Thanks for refreshing my weak memory, which often left me embarrassing. In fact I mixed the match with another. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
The facts regarding Ind-WI 96 WC match you provided are correct, only to add that when Sach got out, it was Kambli (33*) who led India from 125/5 to the victory and on the way pulled Ambrose for the lone Six of Indian inning. Though the innning was short, but he was undefeated and thus silenced the critics that "Windies had exposed his weakness against short pitched bowls."
I just mixed this inning with the inning Kambli (106 off 110 deliveries)played against Zimbabwe's Streak & Co. when India was gasping at 32/3 after losing Sach, Manjrekar and Azhar.
Can anybody on earth explain that why after two such important innings, WHY WAS KAMBLI DROPPED FROM THE SQUAD? Was he (or his tears in the Semifinal against Srilanka, though he was again undefeated) only responsible for India's loss in that world cup? Nobody is bothered.

only one thing--as a batsman he was d greatest batting talent of india along vid gavaskar n sachin but a person he had a rotten attitude,feel really sorry 4 him,such a stylish n class batsman,its not just his loss its cricket"s loss too.

A true Talent let slip through the system, his talent and tempremant was never harnessed.

Kambli has always been a flamboyant batsman and it was a treat to watch him play in the 90's. I still remember it vividly as a high school student, Sach and Kambli were synonymous to any cricket fanatic school kid.
I think he undid it himself with his behaviour off-field more than his on-field (form) behaviour. He rubbed on the wrong side of the selectors and ofcourse he had his weaknesses but like other have mentioned... Other than Rahul and Sachin .. I dont think any other indian batsman can be said to be flawless. If he had cut down his rash attitude and been given a few more chances.. who knows what kinds of records this great talent could have broken.

Kambli handled his fame badly. Maybe the fact that he did not have the rock-solid personal life that Tendulkar did which hurt him. He was flamboyant, but a seriously good talent. I think the selectors by dropping him post 96 WC hurt his career because Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman emerged soon after. Somehow, unfortunately, he was a fine talent who was wasted.He was partly to blame,but the BCCI in general handled players badly. It's somewhat better now.Given counselling and maybe someone to mentor him, maybe Kambli would have done better, but we never know.

Kambli was bit unlucky. Nobody knows why he was dropped after the wC 1996. He was never selected for tests again. Dravid and Ganguly emerged after his dropping. Then he was selected only in ODIs but was not given proper chance or time & treatment. Still the selectors should have given the chance in SL 2001 for tests in absence of Sachin & Laxman. He was just 30 at that time. They gave new & young M. Kaif and H. Badani the chance instead of the experience of Kambli. I think that Ganguly was to be blame for this. May be he was fearing about his own place as he was not scoring runs, but was in the team only because of captaincy.
Also Kambli should have loose his weight a bit & develop his fielding better. Overall saying he was very unlucky for not given another deserving chance.
All the best for Kamblis future.

@ Shahbaba
I wonder how could anyone compare a batsman with a first class batting average of 33 (Atul Bedade) with another player having First Class average of 59 (Vinod Kambli), and declare that Bedade was better thatn Kambli. If first class average is taken into account, Kambli still figures in the top 10 of all time greats around the world (refer - http://stats.cricinfo.com/bdeshvind/content/records/284199.html).

In earlier days, Batsmen use to pay respect to (or fear of)good bowler(s), but it was Kambli who emphasized that the bowlers should also fear of Good Batsmen.
Those who saw Kambli playing, would remember the Hero Cup Final against Windies (1993) when he scored a patient 68, or an year later in another final of Wills World series once again against Windies with a swashbuckling 58* of 40 balls. Two crucial innings poles apart in flavour. Windies attack had Walsh, Ambrose, Cummins, Benjamins, Cuffy etc.
And who can forget the Australasia cup semifinal against Australia (1994), when Kambli scored 22 runs in one over of Shane Warne with 2 sixes and 2 fours. It is pertinent to mention that in those days everyone was feared of Warne. Before that over, Warne's figures were 8-0-18-2 (in the match) and in the tournament it was 28-1-81-9. Kambli was also the top scorer (56) of Indian innings in that Australasia Cup Final.
Alas! we could not witness more great international innings from Kambli.