Yograj Singh has opened up about how his advice to former cricketer Vinod Kambli was not listened to back in the day. The southpaw, who once was talked about as the next big thing in cricket, started his Test career on a bang by slamming centuries in his first two Tests. However, he could not sustain the initial success that he got in the early 90s. Instead of working toward becoming the best batter, Kambli drifted away by indulging in bad habits and messing up his once-promising cricketing career.
Currently, the southpaw is battling depression and has often returned home as a failure from the recreational centers. In a recent interview with InsideSport, Yograj has brought renewed attention to the choices that the veteran made, which ended his fantastic career altogether.
“I told Vinod Kambli once, ‘These parties, smoking cigarettes, going to girls – stop it; otherwise, you’ll be finished, and you’ll be crying. See what happened to him. I was talking to him personally, but then he said, ‘Sir, apka time chala gaya (your time has passed). He used to think, ‘I’m the king’. You are not bigger than the game,” Yograj Singh told InsideSport.
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Vinod Kambli's constant battle with depression & health struggles
It is to be noted that Kambli started his Test career in 1995 by scoring twin double-hundreds within his first seven Tests. The southpaw was also the fastest to reach 1000 runs. However, all that came crashing down when Kambli messed up his life by indulging in habits that completely derailed his fitness and mental health issues for life.
Recently, the former Indian Cricketer's health has sharply declined as he suffered a massive heartache in 2013, undergoing angioplasty for two blocked arteries. Since then, the southpaw has been in and out of rehabilitation centers for treatment related to alcohol dependency. In 2024, he was also treated for blood clots in his brain. Since the latest health news, Kambli has been making strong strides with help from Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, and other 1983 batch former cricketers.
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