Rahul Dravid's Resurfaced Critique of Vinod Kambli Goes Viral: 'He Lacked Talent in...'

New Delhi: An old video on Rahul Dravid discussing the true meaning of talent has gone viral once again, following the resurfacing of a video featuring Vinod Kambli’s public appearance. The video highlights the story of a childhood friend of Sachin Tendulkar, once considered one of India’s brightest cricket prospects. Despite initially showing great promise and representing India in 104 ODIs and 17 Tests, Kambli’s career took a downward spiral, ultimately leading to him losing his place in the national team. His journey serves as a powerful reminder of the significance of hard work and consistency in achieving success, beyond just relying on natural talent.

In the viral resurfaced clip, Rahul Dravid, who played 509 matches for India and went on to coach the senior team, spoke of Vinod Kambli’s extraordinary ‘ball-striking ability.’ However, Dravid said that perhaps Kambli did not have the broader skill set and the understanding needed to stay the course of a successful international career. According to Dravid, it is the other facets of the game which one masters that determine success at the highest level.

“I think we judge talent wrong. What do we see as talent? And I’ve made the same mistake. We judge talent by people’s ability to strike a cricket ball. The sweetness or the timing of a cricket ball. That’s the only thing we see as talent. Things like determination, courage, discipline, and temperament are also talents. When we judging talent, I think we’ve got to look at the whole package,” he said in the video.

“It’s a hard thing to explain but some people just have the gift of timing and ball-striking. Sourav Ganguly just had that ability to time a cover drive. He just had it. You could see. Sachin has it. And Viru. You wouldn’t say that about someone like Gautam (Gambhir) as much as you would do for some of these other guys. Not that Gautam is less successful. So that’s what we see as talent. We don’t actually look at the other side of talent. We say, a talented player didn’t make it. We always look at this side but maybe he didn’t have the other talents,” Dravid added.

Feel like posting this today.
Trust Rahul Dravid to say this so beautifully.

Video courtesy – cricinfo. pic.twitter.com/bHjKCTHjSs

— Bishontherockz (@BishOnTheRockx) December 4, 2024

“I hate to use… but Vinod’s probably been one of the nicest guys that I’ve met. Vinod had an incredible ball-striking ability. I remember a game in Rajkot, Vinod got 150 against (Javagal) Srinath and Anil (Kumble). It was incredible. First ball Anil came onto bowl, he hit him straight into the stone wall. In Rajkot, there used to be a stone wall. He hit it bang straight onto it. I mean, we were all shocked, wow it was amazing. How do you do that? But maybe he didn’t have the talent in the other areas to understand what it took to be an international cricketer, to deal with the stress and the pressure. I can only guess but maybe Sachin had that much more. That’s why Sachin is where he is today,” Dravid further said.