- published: 10 Oct 2011
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Vinod Ganpat Kambli (Marathi: विनोद कांबळी pronunciation (help·info) (born 18 January 1972, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a former Indian cricketer, who played for India as a middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. He is childhood friend of the Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Currently he appears as cricket expert and commentator on various television channels. He has also appeared on various reality shows.
Kambli hails from Kanjurmarg, a suburb of Mumbai.The small patch of land that served as his first cricket pitch was surrounded on all sides by high-rise buildings.The scoring system was dictated by the lack of space, and the higher a batsman hit the ball into the buildings the more runs he scored. It explains why Kambli was one of the best over-the-top hitters of spin bowling. Kambli accepted Christianity in September,2010 at the St Peter’s Church, Bandra.
He shared an unbroken partnership of 664 runs in a school match against St. Xavier's School, Fort, with Sachin Tendulkar. Kambli contributed 349 runs before their coach Acharekar forced the pair to declare. Kambli, who started his Ranji trophy career with a six off the first ball he faced, soon followed Sachin in to the Indian team. Kambli made two double-centuries and two centuries in seven tests. He played his last Test match at the age of 24 and formally announced his retirement from first class cricket on 22 September 2011. He played his last ODI in the year 2000.