Fans of former India cricketer Vinod Kambli were praying for his well-being as the 54-year-old continued to battle serious health issues. If reports are to be believed, his childhood friend and once colleague in the national cricket team, Sachin Tendulkar, has joined a WhatsApp group to extend financial and emotional support to the ailing former cricketer.
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The initiative has been taken by Marcus Couto, one of Kambli’s longtime friends, to bring together several former cricketers and well-wishers. He confirmed it to the Hindustan Times and said the friends make significant financial contributions towards the former cricketer’s recovery without revealing their names.
Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar during their playing days.
He also told the Times of India on Wednesday (April 15) that ever since he was admitted to a hospital in Thane, Maharashtra, in December 2024, he has had a brain clot, and his memory is not functioning well. Couto, a former first-class umpire, said while the former cricketer has given up drinking, he tends to smoke at times, but that increases his risks of a brain stroke, something that the doctors have warned him about.
According to Couto, people oblige Kambli whenever he requests a smoke, thinking they are helping one of their childhood heroes. But little do they understand that they are doing more harm to him.
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The former cricketer’s health issues have emerged from a series of complications over the past few years, and a delay in treatment means the clot in the brain cannot be removed, which has left Kambli at a serious health risk. In the recent past, he was also spotted struggling to walk on public platforms.
The cricketing fraternity has come out in support of him in the past, including legends such as Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. The Board of Control for Cricket in India also gives Kambli a monthly pension of Rs 30,000.
Speculations over Kambli-Tendulkar relation
Kambli’s relation with Tendulkar, however, has come under public scrutiny over the years, with reports that they have often taken a roller-coaster ride. However, when he was hospitalised in 2024, Kambli thanked his childhood friend for always backing him. In 2009, Kambli triggered a massive controversy by claiming on a television reality show that Tendulkar had not supported him during a difficult period in his career.
Also read: Vinod Kambli in financial crisis: ‘Sachin knows everything but…’
Kambli, a stylish left-handed middle-order batter, scored 1,084 runs in 17 Tests with two double hundreds and 2,477 runs in 104 one-day internationals in a career that spanned between 1993 and 2000. Both him and Tendulkar were mentored by renowned coach Ramakant Achrekar who passed away in 2019.
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