India's squad that beat Pakistan in Bangalore in the 1996 World Cup: Where are they now?

#5 Vinod Kambli

Kambli was the fastest ever to reach 1000 runs in Test cricket

Vinod Kambli added 24 runs to the scorecard, before being clean bowled by Mushtaq Ahmed. He occupied the crease for 26 balls and struck a solitary boundary. Kambli breaking down in tears in the following semi-final loss to Sri Lanka marked the beginning of a decline in his career.

He remains one of those strange cases of a prodigious talent gone wasted. He first came into prominence in the cricketing world after an unbroken 664-run stand with Sachin Tendulkar in school cricket – a record at the time. He was expected to do great things and started his Test career with a bang; becoming the fastest Indian to a 1000 Test runs (took him only 14 innings). But a decline in form means he lost his place in the side, but even when he played his last test innings he had an average over 54.

This World Cup also signaled the dip in his form, and he never really recovered from that. He tried his hand in the entertainment industry and politics, but never really took off. His stints as a cricket analyst also hasn’t managed to pick steam.