Cricketer Vinod Kambli

 Two friends who grew up playing cricket at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, caught the attention of cricket lovers when they made a record breaking partnership of 664 runs in Harris Shield Tournament. The duo played for Shardashram Vidya Mandir and St. Xaviers were their opponents in the match. The two players were Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. As we know, both went on to play for India. Sachin Tendulkar really made it big and reached great heights, while Vinod Kambli after his initial success, ruined his chances and gradually faded away from the limelight. 

Sachin Tendulkar owing to his performances in domestic cricket made an early debut in international cricket. Sachin Tendulkar made is Test debut in 1989 against Pakistan. He made his ODI debut against the Pakistan in the same year. Sachin went on to play 200 Test matches and 463 ODIs for India. At the same time Vinod Kambli made his ODI debut in 1991 against Pakistan and Test debut in 1993 against England. Interestingly he had made his Ranji Trophy debut with a huge six. In the first test match against England he scored 16 and 18 runs.

Vinod Kambli

Vinod Kambli Centuries

Kambli's Test career began in style when he scored a double century in just his third match. He scored 224 off 411 deliveries batting at position 3. He was out caught by Mike Gatting off Chris Lewis' bowling. Sachin Tendulkar scored 78 in the same innings. India won the match by an innings and 15 runs. England's Graeme Hick was adjudged as the Player of the match for his scores of 178 and 47. He also took 2 wickets in the first innings. In the very next test against Zimbabwe, he scored 227 off 301 deliveries. India won the match by an innings and 13 runs. In the next match against Sri Lanka he didn’t get a chance to bat and the match was drawn. In the next match he once again scored a century (125 runs). He continued his unbelievable run in Test as he went on too score another century in his next match against Sri Lanka. He had scored 4 centuries in his first 7 Test matches. But unfortunately he could maintain the consistency in the upcoming matches. He could only play 10 more test matches for India, and in these matches he never scored a century. He managed to score 2 half centuries in the series against Sri Lanka. But his graph dipped unbelievable in the future tests. He averaged 54.20 in the 17 test matches he had played, and it remains the highest test average for any Indian batter. He was just 23, when he played his last Test match.

Kambli managed to do fairly better in ODIs. He played 104 ODIs and scored 2,477 runs at an average of 32.59. He scored 2 centuries and 14 half centuries in ODIs. He played his last ODI in 2000 against Sri Lanka.

Vinod Kambli Last Match

Vinod Kambli played his last Test match for India in 1995 against New Zealand at Cuttak. In the match he scored 28 in the first innings. Rain played spoil sport and the match ended in a draw. But he continued to play in ODIs for India. He played his last ODI against Sri Lanka in 2009 at Sharjah. This match witnessed a great knock from Sanath Jayasurya, when he scored a 161 ball 189 runs. Chasing the Sri Lankan total of 299, India were all-out for just 54 runs. Vinod Kambli was out for 3. All the Indian batsmen except Robin Singh were out for single digit scores. Robin Singh was the top scorer with 11 runs. Chaminda Vaas picked 5 wickets for 14 runs.

In the first class matches, Vinod Kambli played his latch match in 2004 for Mumbai against Madhya Pradesh. He captained the Mumbai side. He made scores of 68 and 24. The match was drawn.