Vinod Kambli

Vinod Kambli (born 18 January 1972) is an Indian former international cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa.

Kambli became the first cricketer to score a century in a One-day International on his birthday.

He has the highest career batting average for an Indian test cricketer of 54 but he played his last test when he was just 23 years old.

Thereafter, he was only considered to play for One Day International matches, although his last appearance in that format was also at the young age of 28.

He made his One Day International and Test debuts in 1991 and 1992, respectively.

In Tests, he made four centuries including two double-centuries.

He also holds the record for the Indian player to fastest (14 innings) reach 1000 runs in Tests.

He made his ODI debut in 1991 against Pakistan during the Wills

Sharjah Trophy.

He played world cup tournaments in 1992 and 1996.

He has

2 ODI centuries into his credit: 100 not out against England at Jaipur

He scored 224 against England at Wankhede Stadium in 1993 as his

maiden test century in his third test.

In the next test against

Zimbabwe, he scored 227.

In his next test series, he scored 125 and 120

against Sri Lanka.

He is also the only cricketer to hit three

consecutive test centuries in three innings against three

different countries.

In his 17 Tests, he averaged 69.13 in the first

innings, and just 9.40 in the second innings, with a difference of 59.73.

in 1993 on his birthday, setting the record for becoming the first batsman to score an ODI hundred on his birthday and 106 against Zimbabwe at Kanpur in the 1996 World Cup.

He played his last Test match at the age of only 23[11]

while he played his last ODI in the year 2000 and formally announced

On 15 August 2009, Kambli launched his Khel Bharti Sports Academy in Mumbai and announced his retirement from cricket as he wished to coach at Khel Bharti Academy.

He has been the Head Coach for the MCA Academy in BKC, Mumbai.

his retirement from first-class cricket on 22 September 2011.[12]

He played for Boland province in the South African domestic circuit.

He has appeared as a commentator on various television channels and worked with a Marathi News channel as a cricket expert for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

He has also been a part of various reality shows and done a few serials and Bollywood films as an actor.

He played a supporting role in the Kannada film Bettanagere.

Kambli is currently on the Cricket Improvement Committee for Mumbai Cricket Association

Vinod Kambli was born into a Hindu family.

He hails from Indira Nagar, Kanjur Marg (Mumbai).

He is a childhood friend of the Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

He shared an unbroken partnership of 664 runs with Sachin Tendulkar in a school cricket match against St. Xavier's School, Fort.

Kambli contributed 349 runs before their coach Acharekar forced the pair to declare the innings; he then took six wickets for 37 runs in St. Xavier's first innings.

Kambli started his Ranji Trophy career with a six off the first ball he faced.