Why Vinod? And Why Now?
Questions flood the mind after Kambli’s latest comments. How seriously should we take him?
There are two visuals on my screen. Both of them have Vinod Kambli in tears.In
the first, he’s walking off the park. Fifteen years ago, that image
helped us register that our World Cup dream had come to a painful end.
In the other, he’s telling us why the dream may have ended. But that's
the problem: it was 15 years ago."I would never betray my
country, betray my team. Today my heart feels lighter because ... that
1996 match... I would never forget it in my life... because after that
match, my career was finished off... shit...," Kambli told a news
channel in broken sentences before hiding his teary face from the
camera. What incentive did he have to air his case, however weak, on
national television?Kambli suggests that Mohammad Azharuddin's
infamous decision to field in the World Cup semifinal was not what the
team (according to Kambli) had agreed on, and therefore something was
amiss.The first person to react to Kambli's outburst was
Azharuddin, who trashed the allegation saying Kambli had "shown his
class." Sanjay Manjrekar, who had played that game, tweeted that
fielding first was an honest cricketing decision. Since then, coach Ajit Wadekar, wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia and spinner Venkatpathy Raju have all junked Kambli's version.
WHAT NOW?: Questions flood the mind after this.First: what credibility does Azharuddin have in this matter, given what he had been accused of?After
this, Kambli had a tragi-comical conversation with Wadekar on the
phone. This is made-for-TV stuff. You feel sorry for Kambli when he
childishly pleads, "Sir, aapka saath chahiye (I need your support)".Second
question: what did Kambli mean when he said the Indian batsmen were
padded up and ready to go? Who pads up before the toss?Clearly,
he had not thought this through, and maybe this whole thing is a huge
impulsive mistake, like many of his dangerous flashes through the
off-side. Maybe he's only trying to draw attention, like that time he
laughably announced his retirement from international cricket.Wadekar
brushes him off, saying the team had indeed decided to field, that his
own memory was fine, and
maybe Kambli's had weakened.
Did Kambli think this through? Was this 'coming out' a huge mistake?
Then,
there's the BCCI reaction along expected lines. Vice president Rajeev
Shukla said Kambli's views carried no weight and would be swept aside.
ICC president, former BCCI president, and former Mumbai Cricket
Association president, Sharad Pawar said Kambli's statements are
irresponsible.Third question: Kambli may have surrendered his
right to be taken seriously. But he's a well-known cricketer with an
enviable record. He is a respected do-gooder in local circles. Sure,
he's been accused of being irresponsible, immature and tactless. But
nobody has accused him of dishonesty in public life. Isn't that alone
worth something?
CONTROVERSY'S CHILD: To
understand why Kambli's comments have received scant regard from the
authorities, you only need to examine incidents from his playing days.When
Kambli says his career ended after the World Cup game, he's only
partially correct. He had been a team regular till then. He made two
vital contributions in the tournament: a 33 in Gwalior where he
destroyed Curtly Ambrose, and the 106 in Kanpur where he saved India
from being embarrassed by Zimbabwe.He was axed from the ODI tours
of Singapore and Sharjah, and eventually from the squad for England.
Chairman of selectors Gundappa Viswanath said Kambli had not even been
considered as an option. This hinted at non-cricketing reasons for this
vastly talented player's removal.It also lent weight to rumours
about his problems: that he'd given in to every pleasure life could
offer a fun-loving celebrity of his sort. There were stories of
skirt-chasing, boozing, boorish public behaviour and even substance
abuse.Kambli's removal had one positive effect: it allowed
another left-hander to come in, score a Test hundred on debut at Lord's
and change the course of Indian cricket.
SEVEN COMEBACKS: Over
the next four years, Kambli made seven comebacks, and played only 35
more ODIs, the last of them in 2000 in Sharjah, where Sri Lanka bowled
India out for 54. In all those games, he failed to produce that one
innings that would turn his career around.
The
son of a machinist, Kambli had promised to be an incredible success
story alongside his childhood friend Sachin Tendulkar. Instead he
finished as the genius who threw it all away, the stark contrast to
Tendulkar's incredible longevity, and the contrast itself has become one
of Indian cricket's greatest clichés.There were fitness
problems. He had a failed first marriage. His school coach Ramakant
Achrekar once said, "Vinod needs to be disciplined. He has always been
happy-go-lucky. He must look into his own performance and must not talk
about others."
ALL HEART: It didn't help
that Kambli, despite his best intentions, had the tactfulness of a
five-year-old. There's a story about him that a Mumbai cricketer once
shared. When Kambli, still 17, hit his first ball in First Class cricket
for a six, he immediately held up his hand to stop the non-striker from
taking a run."Kambli was sure so he had hit the ball for a six,
he didn't want to waste his energy running for that shot," the cricketer
said. But the non-striker was a heavyweight in Indian cricket and a man
not to be trifled with."The teenager had unwittingly affronted the heavyweight with his attempt to stop him in his tracks," he said.The cricketer goes on."Once
I walked into the dressing room where Vinod was sitting with little
more than his jockstrap on. I chided him, and told him to put something
on, lest he gave another reason to annoy a bigwig who was expected to
visit the team that day.""So Vinod said, 'This is who I am. It will make no difference to my career if I'm naked or fully dressed.'"Then the cricketer turned to one of his colleagues sitting in the row of chairs behind us and said, "Tell him about Vinod."And
the colleague bit his tongue and held his right ear-lobe (as a mark of
reverence for the person he was about to speak of) and said, "He has a
heart of gold."Recently, Kambli painted himself into a corner
again on a TV show where he said Tendulkar could have done more to save
him from his self-destructive behaviour. He spent the next few days
clarifying his stand. Classic Kambli.Interestingly, that show, Sach Ka Saamna,
tested a contestant's ability to pass a Polygraph test while answering a
series of probing questions about his personal life. For what it is
worth, Kambli passed the test by answering 15 questions.After
this latest controversy dies down, few will remember him for being the
first batsman since Bradman and Hammond to score back-to-back doubles.
Or that high back-lift. The precise jump down the wicket to the
spinners. How he hammered Warne in Sharjah. The chunky jewellery, the
crazy hairstyles, the sunglasses, the ear-stud, his Caribbean flair for
life. Or the on-field antics that showed him to be the lovable rascal he
was.What will remain of him are the controversies, that clichéd
Tendulkar comparison, and the cynicism with which we treat cricket, no
matter if India wins a World Cup or Loses ...
