Vinod Kambli

[masterblaster]

Is Vinod Kambli the forgotten man of Indian Cricket?
A prodigiously talented individual with a test average of 54 has been left out time and time again for India.

He had the potential to become one of the greatest batsman of all time, I feel, and with a FC average of 62 for over a decade he is the dynamo batsman of the Ranji Trophy. His ODI success though was limited as he only averaged 32 in over 100 caps.

With those crushing innings against England back in 1992/93 I was sure he would play over 100 tests for India. The best mate of Tendulkar had as much talent as he did, but didnt harness it.

One of the tragedies of Modern Cricket?

 

[age_master]

there are a few enormously talented players that have not or have hardly played a test for Australia

Stuart Law, played one test got 55* then was dropped

Matthew Elliot played well for a while, then was injured and never picked again


Simon Katich, Played one test, got 15, never to be picked again

Jaimie Siddons, Never played a test, only recently passed in FC runs by Lehmann



im sure there are others as well

 

[marc71178]

How do we know these players were enormously talented?

Unless a player does it at International Level, you can't say they're enormously talented.

Oh, and didn't Siddons score his runs more as a result of longevity than talent?

 

[aussie_beater]

Vinod Kambli scored most of his runs in test cricket in one window between Jan'93 and Jan'94 or so.... and that was it.He got some more opportunities but he failed miserably.He scored heavily in the initial matches that he played and that kept his average intact.He had deficiencies in his batting against the short stuff as well as outside the offstump, just like so many other Indian batsman.He played ODIs till about 2000 but hasn't done anything great.

I think he is one of those Indian players who scored heavily in domestic tourneys like LalChand Rajput and Raman Lamba of the eighties but ..only difference is that Kambli had an amazing run initially only to fall into the depths.IMO, he was quite good for a while but over a longer run he just faded out.

 

[Top_Cat]

How do we know these players were enormously talented?

I can show you some footage of Elliott on the '97 tour of England if you like.

Stuart Law was certainly a very talented player but had an annoying tendency to get out softly.

Simon Katich could still play Test cricket again! Geez, don't write him off yet.............

And Siddons was a VERY VERY talented player with shots to all parts of the wicket and I was a great admirer of him (despite him being from Victoria.....).....................but I still say he never recovered from being hit on the noggin by Merv Hughes. He was never the same, in the same way that Phil Simmons was never the same player after being hit by David (?) Lawrence.

 

[sean]

Didn't Elliot get dropped on the 99 WI tour because he was in shithouse form?

Even if he was injured he only managed around 100 runs for the whole 5 match series so I don't think he would have been around too much longer.

 

[Little Master]

Kambli

Vinod Kambli was an extremly talented Cricketer and was a pleasure on and off the field. He would still be around but he lost the plot on how a cricketer has to live.
On his day Kambli could be as good if not better then any cricketer in the world

 

[Anil]

Is Vinod Kambli the forgotten man of Indian Cricket?
A prodigiously talented individual with a test average of 54 has been left out time and time again for India.

He had the potential to become one of the greatest batsman of all time, I feel, and with a FC average of 62 for over a decade he is the dynamo batsman of the Ranji Trophy. His ODI success though was limited as he only averaged 32 in over 100 caps.

With those crushing innings against England back in 1992/93 I was sure he would play over 100 tests for India. The best mate of Tendulkar had as much talent as he did, but didnt harness it.

One of the tragedies of Modern Cricket?

He was very good against mediocre attacks on Indian pitches, but no way was he anywhere as good as Tendulkar!!! He used to say after his initial success in tests that Tendulkar took the elevator and he took the steps, but they have both reached the same level, I found that statement preposterous then and even more so now. Mind you, looking at the performance of the "awesome" Indian batting lineup in NZ, you can make a plausible case for even Kambli's inclusion into the team, but as far as Tendulkar or even Dravid are concerned, he is way out of their league and has always been.

 

[Top_Cat]

Didn't Elliot get dropped on the 99 WI tour because he was in shithouse form?

Even if he was injured he only managed around 100 runs for the whole 5 match series so I don't think he would have been around too much longer.

Yeah, players NEVER come back from a form slump like that. :rolleyes:

What was Matt hayden's average before his latest stint in the team? Around half of what it is today perchance?

Elliott certainly had an ordinary tour of the WI but it seemed that Steve Waugh wasn't interested in having him in the side and he recieved very little support or indication that anyone else actually wanted him there which, considering his ability, is a tragedy.

 

[sasnoz]

a very reliable source told me that kambli was dropped because he had a aussie attitude

 

[Andre]

What's taht attitude - a winning one? One of consistent performances? Heaven forbid that someone wants to play cricket like an Australian :O

 

[marc71178]

No, it must be the bad loser attitude, and at the time India were struggling so it reflected really badly on them!

(Joke by the way before the Terrace element jump in)

 

[lord_of_darkness]

He was good , riches etc glory took the better of him , he is playing FC in South Africa at the moment doing okay i guess , he had a lot of talent in him for sure when he started but in the end he was a slack fielder didnt apply himself well with the bat and got dropped his test avg is like 56