Once an enfant terrible, Vinod Kambli the coach now talks discipline

The venue is the picturesque Mumbai Cricket Association’s Recreation Centre at the Bandra-Kurla Complex. A man in white track pant and maroon t-shirt walks down with colourful sporty shades on his clean shaved head. The eyes in the awe of the palatial club house is quickly shifted towards the tiny man from far, being escorted by the officials of the RC.

The man that handful people are waiting for is none other than Vinod Kambli. An extraordinary talent with an international career that largely remained a dream unfulfilled and surrounded by controversies. Despite a short career (17 Tests and 104 ODIs), Kambli remains a well known name and face.

Kambli is returning to his first love — cricket. He will have the bat in hand once again, not to send fielders on a leather hunt, but to show youngsters how to grip and swing the bat when the ball is bowled at them.

The 45-year-old has for the first time taken up the responsibility of head coach at the MCA’s Recreation Centre where he will train members’ children. This might come as a surprise to many as Kambli’s career, and even when he was dropped from the top flight, has been riddled with accusations of indiscipline. And for a coach that baggage can be a deal breaker. Yet, Kambli is confident he will be able to deliver as a coach.      

He said instilling discipline will be one of key subjects in his course. “I am going to talk them about discipline, definitely. Discipline has to come in if they want to be successful and work hard apart from being regular.”

“I will tell them about my experiences and whatever I have experienced from childhood till whatever age I am today. However, more than talking I will be happy to see them in action,” Kambli said as he began to talk to the youngsters during the launch of the academy here on Tuesday.

Kambli said he will teach the boys whatever he has learnt from his and Sachin Tendulkar’s childhood coach Ramakant Achrekar, who was their mentor at the famous Sharadashram School.

“I would like to inculcate the values that Achrekar Sir has passed on to us, especially, getting the basics right all the time, whether you are playing for the school, Ranji Trophy or for your country. I will apply the Gurumantra that we learnt from Achrekar sir — Perfect practice makes man perfect.

“Whatever we learnt from Achrekar Sir, I think the time has come to pass it on to the next generation. If the youngsters can take advantage of this, it will be great. Just like Achrekar sir, I too, would want them to play natural and not fidget with their grip,” he said.

As Kambli demonstrated his batting to youngsters, his huge backlift reminded one of the way he batted more than two decades ago. The period when he won hearts and even made experts debate, albeit a short-lived one, that he could be greater than Tendulkar. And as he followed through with his shot, the flamboyance was on full display and so were his thick diamond earrings, that glittered much the same way he put them out on show in the early 1990s.

It may be just another academy if one sees it from a broader perspective, however, for Kambli it is another big opportunity to get back to his passion.

“When I retired from cricket, I was wondering ‘now what?’. I thought I will take up commentary or become a TV presenter. But my love has always been cricket, so I got back to the field,” he said.

It comes as no surprise that his friend and former teammate at every level, Sachin Tendulkar, had a hand in him getting back to where he belongs.

“This is Ajay Desai (MCA official) and Sachin’s (Tendulkar) doing (idea). Sachin knows how much I love cricket. So he said to me ‘why don’t you take up coaching?’

“So, I would say that I have embarked on a path and I just have to walk on it. He (Sachin) has a big hand in bringing me back on to the field.”

Kambli wants to correct the notion that cricketers cannot be good coaches. “I don’t think so. While we play, we learn as well. I can teach the boys wicket-keeping since I have done it before, I know what is outswing and inswing. As cricketers we know all aspects. Hence, I would teach them all,” he said.

The youngsters at the academy belong to a generation that comes much after Kambli’s fairy tale fizzled out. They only heard about him or have seen his videos on internet. One of the boys said, “I was not even born when he played, but I have seen his batting videos on YouTube. He was devastating.”