MERCURIAL Vinod Kambli, the hardhitting batsman who once matched Don Bradman and Wally Hammond by hammering successive double Test centuries, has undergone successful angioplasty and hopes to be back on television soon. Kambli, 40, underwent angioplasty on two of his blocked arteries at Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai last month, but the surgery was kept well under wraps.
"We didn't tell anyone about it, except my close friends. You are the first one from the media I'm speaking to, though the news channel for which I work knew my condition and allowed to undergo surgery. Overall, I am feeling much better now,” Kambli told Mail Today from Mumbai.
"It's disappointing that I'm not able to cover the first Test between India and New Zealand for my channel. But I am recovering well and will speak to doctors to see if I can get back to work for the second Test starting on August 29 in Bangalore. Hopefully, I'll be back soon,” he said, optimistically.
Kambli complained of pain and was taken to the hospital again on Thursday and was discharged on Friday. Due to this he couldn't watch comeback kid Cheteshwar Pujara's maiden Test century in Hyderabad.
LAUDS PUJARA TON
Left- handed Kambli, who also batted at the crucial No. 3 like Pujara and scored all his four centuries at that position, rued missing the Saurashtra batsman's knock.
"I was in hospital, so I couldn't watch the telecast. But I am told he batted well,” he said.
However, Kambli requested those who have started comparing Pujara with his predecessor at No. 3, the redoubtable Rahul Dravid, to refrain from doing so.
"It's good to know that Pujara scored a century. The more he scores the better for him. But people have started comparing him with Dravid. I ask them to let him play and score more runs,” he said.
"I also batted at No. 3 and scored successive double hundreds, something that only Bradman and Hammond had done earlier [and Graeme Smith later]. But that didn't mean that I was as good as those greats or should have been compared with them. So, people should not compare Pujara with Dravid.”
Kambli hammered a superb 224, against England in Mumbai, in only his fourth Test innings and followed it up with a strokeful 227 in the next match in Delhi in 1993.
In the next two Tests in which he batted, he slammed successive centuries in Sri Lanka that helped him become the fastest Indian to reach 1,000 runs in least number of innings, 14. All this added spice to comparisons between him and Sachin Tendulkar, his contemporary and friend.
After his fourth ton, scored in Colombo, Kambli played 10 more Tests but never managed a century; only two half- centuries, before fizzling out. He unsuccessfully tried to stage a comeback for several years, which included a stint in South African domestic cricket. He eventually finished with 1,084 runs in 17 Tests at a fabulous average of 54.20.
Kambli dabbled in politics, too, in 2009. He fought, and lost, from the Vikhroli (Mumbai) seat of the Maharashtra Assembly in 2009 and also took part in Big Boss. In November last year, he was in news again when he sensationally said during a reality TV show in November that he was "stunned” when the then captain Mohammed Azharuddin chose to field on winning the toss in the 1996 World Cup semi- finals against Sri Lanka.
The Mumbaikar now says he is now contented with the media work he's involved in. "I only have this contract with a news channel and I am very happy with the work I'm doing,” he stressed.
Kambli's wife Andrea Hewitt said that before he was admitted to Lilavati Hospital her star cricketer husband was feeling some pain. "He had been complaining of chest pain very often. So we took him to hospital and the surgery was done,” the fashion model told Mail Today. Kambli informed that two of his arteries were causing the pain.
"I was feeling uncomfortable.
The tests revealed that one was 90 per cent blocked and the other 50 per cent,” he said.
"We are sportspersons; we don't know how these things happen. I had a successful surgery and did complete rest. I felt pain again two days ago, and was admitted for one-and-a-half days before being discharged on Friday. The pain is now gone.”
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