New Delhi: Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar shared a close friendship that began at the age of 10 and lasted for over two decades as teammates. However, their relationship hit a rough patch when Tendulkar, on an Indian reality show, accused Kambli of not supporting him during difficult times. This revelation led to a fallout between the two, resulting in years of estrangement. Kambli’s absence from Tendulkar’s retirement speech and post-retirement events further highlighted the strain in their bond.
Despite their past difficulties, Kambli and Tendulkar eventually reconciled and mended their friendship. However, this wasn’t the first time Kambli’s actions had caused tension between them. Amid recent reports about Kambli’s health issues, an old anecdote shared by Sanjay Manjrekar sheds light on the playful yet tense relationship between him, Kambli, and Tendulkar during the 1992 ODI World Cup.
Speaking to SportsKeeda three years ago, Manjrekar recalled an incident from the 1992 ODI World Cup when Kambli, despite being part of India’s squad, was not included in the playing XI for the initial matches. Frustrated by his exclusion, the left-hander frequently vented his emotions to Tendulkar and Manjrekar.
Sanjay Manjrekar shared, “Kambli is someone you know is a character and he was very friendly with me and Sachin. In the first few matches of the World Cup, he wasn’t playing. His mood was off; he was a bit upset. Sachin and I were the two established players, so we were getting all the matches. But after every match, when we would meet, he would come after us. He would criticise; ‘What is this batting? You could have played faster’. He didn’t even spare Sachin.”
Manjrekar recalled the match against Zimbabwe, where he and Tendulkar had secured a solid partnership to secure the win. Despite the victory, Kambli still complained, saying, “It was a small target and we won the match. Despite that, in the evening, Kambli would again go like ‘The match and all is fine; but we could have won it a lot earlier.’ He told Sachin, ‘John Traicos is such an ordinary bowler. You could have hit him out of the ground; you were taking singles.’”
“Sachin said ‘Our target was to win the match’. But Vinod did not learn. If there is one person who could upset Sachin, that is Vinod Kambli,” Manjrekar recalled.
Kambli eventually got his chance to play in the high-pressure match against Pakistan. However, his performance fell short of expectations, as he scored only 24 runs off 41 balls. This gave Tendulkar and Manjrekar the opportunity to tease him.
“After the match, we took him aside,” Manjrekar recalled. “We asked, ‘What happened? You hit such big sixes in the nets. Why didn’t you do it in the game?’ He simply replied, ‘They were bowling very tight.’ That was his explanation.”
Reflecting on the incident, Manjrekar concluded, “If there’s one person who could upset Sachin, it was Vinod Kambli. He truly was a character.”
