Talent is not everything...

Just having talent does not guarantee success. When I say this I would like to give example of Vinod Kambli. He was considered by many as more talented than Sachin Tendulkar. Even there Coach Ramakant Achrekar also agrees with this fact. The two shared unbeaten partnership of 664 runs for Shardashram Vidyamandir in interschool match in Mumbai in 1988 in which both of them made not out triple centuries. It was world record till recent. Then exactly what happen to India’s or May be world’s greatest cricket talent Vinod Kambli? When I say world’s greatest cricket talent we have the figures to support it. Vinod Kambli matched Don Bradman and Wally Hammond by getting successive double Test centuries. Kambli also became the fastest Indian to complete 1000 Test runs. He also reached the 200-run mark before Sachin Tendulkar by getting 227 against Zimbabwe in 1993. Kambli had two double centuries and two hundreds in his first eight Test innings!!!!!!!! He played 17 tests in which he scored 1084 runs with the average of more than 54. Till now only Sachin matches with this average. Can anyone tell me how many players in cricket have played there last test match at the age of 24 and leaving with average of 54???

In test he was dropped for consecutive 3 series. So In very early stage of his career he lost the form and eventually dropped from the test side. He played one day cricket comparatively longer than test. But then he slowing lost his form in one day matches as well and then eventually sidelined by the selectors for life long. Cricketer of this level did not get the chance to do comeback again.

Cricket was always the first love for Vinod Kambli as the case with his close friend Sachin Tendulkar. As he lost his place in Indian team frustrated Kambli looked out for all the other chances where he could survive for longer than cricket. So he tried television. But it didn’t work out as good as cricket.

According to the cricket greats Vinod was lacking in discipline because of his flamboyant lifestyle. In some 3 to 4 years period Vinod and Dravid played together in one day games. Dravid’s solid defensive style was at that time considered as not suitable for one day games, and Vinod’s explosive Caribbean style was considerd as most suitable for one day games. Still dravid finishes it at 344 matches, 10889 runs, 12 centuries, 83 half centuries and average of more than 39….and Vinod at 104 matches, 2477 runs, 2 centuries, 14 half centuries with the average of merely more than 32…

So this must have reasons. It was discipline and hard work that helped Dravid to become what he is today. He was also sidelined for more than 2 years from one day games. But he used that time correctly to fast pace his game. And now we can see that he is playing T20 as well with lot of confidence. He captained RR very well and now from this year onwards he is going to mentor RR.

So it’s very much true that talent is not everything. There needs to have right combination of talent, opportunity, Discipline, Hard work and right Attitude…Also one has to decide whether he want to become a sprinter or a marathon runner…