Why was Vinod Kambli dropped?
Augustus Fink-Nottle
I was out of touch with cricket for about 2 years when he was dropped.
I heard that he was getting a bit too wild and irresponsible, but his
average still looks pretty good to me. Last year I read somewhere
that he was hoping to make a comeback to international cricket. Just
what was the story behind his departure from the team? And is it
possible/feasible for him to make a comeback?
He and Tendulkar used to be real terrors batting together.
thanks,
Gussie
samarth harish shah
Surely, this is a troll! A more obvious attempt at starting a flame war I
am yet to see.
-Samarth.
Uday Rajan
> Can someone tell me why Kambli was dropped from the Indian team?
> I was out of touch with cricket for about 2 years when he was dropped.
> I heard that he was getting a bit too wild and irresponsible, but his
> average still looks pretty good to me.
After the '96 WC, Kambli was dropped from the Indian team (first
for some OD tournaments, IIRC, in Singapore and Sharjah, and later the
England tour) for unspecified disciplinary reasons. The only thing that I
remember is a quote from some BCCI-worthy about Kambli corrupting the
young boys in the team (I guess it had escaped someone's notice that
Kambli was among the youngest members of the WC 14). He then returned to
the ODI side for a couple of spells here and there, without ever doing
enough to hold down a regular spot.
> Last year I read somewhere
> that he was hoping to make a comeback to international cricket. Just
> what was the story behind his departure from the team? And is it
> possible/feasible for him to make a comeback?
It's been a long time since I've seen Kambli play, but reports
suggest that he has become a liability in the field, and his batting in
the few ODIs he has played has hardly merited continued selection at the
international level.
Augustus Fink-Nottle
>On Sat, 25 Aug 2001, Augustus Fink-Nottle wrote:
>> Can someone tell me why Kambli was dropped from the Indian team?
>Surely, this is a troll! A more obvious attempt at starting a flame war I
>am yet to see.
>-Samarth.
No, it's an honest question. I never participate in the flame-fests here.
I didn't follow cricket religiously for about 2-3 years in the mid-90's, as
I said. Kambli used to be in the Indian side and then suddenly he was
nowhere to be seen and I never read or heard a good explanation of
why he suddenly disappeared from the scene. He had a great start to
his test career with an average well above 100 after 7 tests IIRC. Sort
of like a shooting star... burned short but bright, what? But still with an
average of 54 or so, I reckon even when burnt out he ought to be decent
enough for playing. From the cricinfo stats page I see he's still
playing domestic cricket and he's about my age. 29 or so. Not too old
to make a comeback unless his game is really in the gutters these
days. I always thought he would keep pace with Tendulkar and they
would go on to become the modern equivalents of the
Gavaskar-Vishwanath pair.
cheerio,
Gussie
samarth harish shah
> Augustus Fink-Nottle wrote:
>
> > Can someone tell me why Kambli was dropped from the Indian team?
> > I was out of touch with cricket for about 2 years when he was dropped.
> > I heard that he was getting a bit too wild and irresponsible, but his
> > average still looks pretty good to me.
>
> After the '96 WC, Kambli was dropped from the Indian team (first
> for some OD tournaments, IIRC, in Singapore and Sharjah, and later the
> England tour) for unspecified disciplinary reasons. The only thing that I
While the reasons might have been unspecified, they were most certainly
not unknown. I read in multiple places that on the eve of a WC game,
Kambli was causing such a huge ruckus in the hotel bar that the manager
etc. and other officials of the Indian team had to be summoned. Kambli was
mentally disturbed since he was having some problems with his wife.
Sandeep Patil, who was then Asst. Coach to Wadekar, was put in charge of
straightening things out between Kambli and his wife and keeping Kambli
out of the bars.
(People thought this was ironic at the time because Patil himself was
known to be partial to alcohol and had had problems with his own wife in
the past!)
Anyways, after the WC, Kambli publicly stated that his married life was
back on track. There was this joint TV interview with him and his wife
(Noella Lewis, for India women's hockey international), I suppose, to
correct the impression that things weren't quite right. The interview was
conducted in his house and I remember admiring his *gigantic* music system
then.
I would be very surprised if this were mere rumor because the WC-game-eve
incident in the bar was fairly well-known. Also, if what was public
knowledge abt Kambli's marital problems wasn't true, then Kambli wouldn't
come out and say, "now we have made up and all's hunky dory" or words to
that effect in public. (As he was reported to have said.) He'd be more
likely to say, "hey, that's not true, where did you hear that?"
-Samarth.
Nikhil Shah
during the Sahara Cup match when he was injured, he
mentioned that he always sees or notices Azhar, or Saaed
Anwar play in the gaps, they never play straight to a
fielder. We also see the same thing with Sachin and
Kambli. What he is referring to and the explanation is
this ability to play in the gaps and also drive the
ball the rise, a naturally gifted batsmen at a notch
above international level.
You may see this ability only with Lara, Sachin, Kambli, Azhar
and Anwar and players slightly below them cannot play that way
consistently. Even though Kambli's average may be lower
than some batsmen, he had class and the aura and the
ability to play in the gaps naturally without making
a conscious effort. I have not seen cricket like yourself
from 81'-96' and when I first heard about him he was
a player who reminded me in the same class as
Patil and Sachin. His coach Achrekar, thought he was
in the same class as Sachin, because of this ability
to drive the ball on the rise and play in the gaps naturally.
The theory that I can think of: were his personal problems.
Also, the quota mentally, of not playing 2 horses from the
same stable for the same race, and when Agarkar burst into the
scene, there could be some pressure on the quota for WZ as
one possibility. Kambli was selected by the selectors
in one of the ODI squads and was never in the final squad.
This could be due to internal pressures from the team.
But, there is a saying, class is permanent, his injuries,
form and personal issues can be sorted out. We have been seeing
a lot of players not made their mark yet so with pressure
from Sachin he could come back.
Nikhil [who hopes to see him in action in the next WC] Shah
Prasad Cherukuri
Hi
I have been more a reader for the past two years in this newsgroup and it
was amazing to see the knowledge and competency of the game exhibited by the
members. I am very sure I cannot be a religious poster as most of you are
but neverthless would try to.
Coming down to the very topic of Vinod Kambli, if I am not mistaken when
Sachin broke in to the Indian team Achrekar said Vinod was marginally a
better player than Sachin. And this was also proved in the first year of
Vinod's arrival in to the test cricket with his heavy scoring.
After the series against England and SriLanka and with WestIndies touring
India Vinod's weakness to the raising ball was very well exposed by Walsh.
This was very much the start of his downfall. In international cricket there
is little or no mercy for your weaknesses once found out. The biggest
problem with the majority of Indian players. Good, sorry devastating in the
domestic cricket and paupers once up against international teams. and
Coaches can be excellent in moulding and judjing players ability. Achrekar's
observation of Kambli was more seeing him play in the domestic circuit. Once
he was up against the best he had problems and he was sorted out very much
by all other teams from then on. And it was only a matter of time for him to
go downhill with his history of laziness and his extra curricular
activities. This is probably the biggest difference between Vinod and
Sachin. Sachin attacks the problems he has compared to Vinod's attitude of
come tomorrow everything will be fine. Later on the years there were even
reports of him faking injuries and having a drink problem. To be fair for
the guy he wasn't even helped by the break-up in his marriage to Noella. I
am surprised that Nikhil still has hopes for Vinod, more so for the next
world cup. I guess the other biggest factor against him is his fielding,
probably worse than the generally mediocre Indian fielding. In his favor he
is an excellent player of spin, probabaly explains his success in the
initial years. AFAIK he is kind of sorted and he would be the Greame Hick of
India.
Prasad
"samarth harish shah" <shs...@students.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
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