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'Look at Vinod Kambli. Great player but...': India's troubled cricketer dragged into Joe Root vs Sachin Tendulkar debate
The former India batter was mentioned in the discussion about Joe Root and Sachin Tendulkar ahead of Day 3 in Manchester.
Joe Root enjoyed a milestone-laden Day 3 in Manchester as he surged past three all-time greats – Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, and Ricky Ponting – to rise to second on the list of highest run-scorers in Test cricket. The former England captain marked the occasion with his 38th Test hundred, punishing a wayward Indian bowling attack that struggled to find answers in Manchester.
Root has long established himself as a modern-day master, but this latest leap has firmly revived conversations of him chasing down Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record. While the Indian legend’s tally of 15,921 runs still seems distant, Root is only 34 and showing no signs of slowing down, making a serious push for the top spot feel less like fantasy and more like inevitability.
India vs England Live Score 4th Test
Ahead of the start of Day 3, however, an interesting conversation took place featuring former England batter Michael Atherton. In it, he focused on the discipline required alongside talent to achieve milestones such as the one Root achieved on Friday. The conversation began with Tendulkar's maiden Test tour of England when he was just 17, and Atherton name-dropped the India great's childhood friend, Vinod Kambli, to explain his point.
“It was a run-drenched summer, very hot, very flat pitches. He was 17, and I was 21, and anybody could see he was a tremendously talented player,” Atherton spoke of Tendulkar as he talked to Sky Sports Cricket.
"He had time, he had poise, he had all the shots and, he had a beautiful temperament. But you know, there's no guarantee at that stage that he would end up with 15000-odd runs. Take his great schoolmate, Vinod Kambli... a couple of years later, when we went to India in 1993, he got a double-hundred, was a fantastic player, but he fell by the wayside of it.
“Every player's first responsibility is to try to make the most of the talent at your disposal. How you do that is up to yourself, but you can't say Sachin didn't make the most of his talent,” said Atherton.
Kambli failed to capitalise on his blistering start to the Test career, which featured two double centuries in 17 matches, owing to inconsistency and temperamental issues. Tendulkar, who played school cricket with Kambli, went on to lead run-scoring charts across Test and ODI format, and retired as one of the greatest to play the game.
Root inches closer
When Sachin Tendulkar retired, his mountain of 15,921 Test runs felt untouchable, a record for the ages. But Joe Root has, for the first time, made that summit look within reach. With time firmly on his side and consistency to match, the England great now stands as the most credible threat to Tendulkar’s long-standing mark, and could even get there in fewer matches than the ‘Master Blaster’ did.
