The men who could have made it big - Part-1

Over time, Indian Cricket found some rare talent, some skillful masters of the game and players as good as anyone else in the fraternity. Some from the much-talked about glamsham and the so-called hi-fi cities of the country, while many others from the not-much-talked about, silent, future stars-producing districts. The fondly called Little Master, once remarked, ‘there are good players, there are very good players, there are great players and then, there are “gifted” players’. From the 1990s, Indian cricket found some of its most “gifted” talent. This does not necessarily mean that we didn’t have any gifted players prior to the ’90s… Yes we had Sunny Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Roger Binny and others, but the number of athletes belonging to the “gifted” breed sky-rocketed from the ’90s. The 2000s sprang up more such players, considered by many as the ‘GenNext’ for the game. Most of these men reached where they belonged and achieved what they deserved. They performed to their potential and became role models for the next generation.

I won’t talk about the laurels and records of the ones who reached the top. I won’t laud someone for a showpiece double-ton with the willow in hand, or a deadly spell with the kookaburra. No, that’s not what I aim to put forward here. Here, I’ll not talk about the Sachins or the Dravids or the Sehwags or the Yuvrajs. Here I’ll talk about the ones who had raw talent, skill and ability, but could not reach the top (even if they did, they couldn’t last long), the ones who did not achieve what they easily could have; the Princes who did not become the Kings. Here I present to you- The men who could have ruled, but eventually didn’t.

Vinod Kambli: The talent which got wasted!!

VINOD KAMBLI

Quite naturally, the first person who perfectly suits the title is none other than Kambli himself. When he first burst on to the international scene, the world saw a stylish and classy southpaw who could take the game away from you on any given day and one who was not used to getting dismissed quite often. Having shared an unbroken 664-run partnership with Tendulkar at the school-level, he had a certain element of finesse in his game. Technically, there was little to distinguish between the two, yet some leading critics of the game were compelled to quote that his batting boasted of being technically and tactically better than that of Tendulkar’s. Statistically too, he was outstanding – with two hundreds, two double-hundreds, a half-century and an average of over 113 to his name after seven Tests. After those matches it seemed like all of a sudden Tendulkar was not the only deity in town. An aggressive batsman with a hint of Brian Lara in him, such figures would have guaranteed at least a 100-match career; but it was not to be. The bowlers soon exposed his inability to deal with the short ball and the piece of willow in his hand was often seen handing over simple catches to gully. He consequently ran out of favors from the selectors, more so due to his lack of self-discipline and his “self-destructive nature” as quoted by some, than his form. Eventually, his Test career was over before his 24^th birthday. 17 matches, 1,084 runs and an average of 54.20 under his belt: his international career was all but over by 2000. How rapidly did his stars fade! How rapidly was a hero thrown to the status of a zero! How rapidly was the deity forgotten! How rapidly was a star lost! What a waste of a talent. What a sedate and sad end to what could have been a legendary career. Had he continued, who knows – we could have had two Tendulkars around.