An old video of star cricketer and Wall of Cricket Rahul Dravid is making rounds on social media. In it, he can be heard giving his opinion on Vinod Kambli's cricketing style and other cricketers after the recent meeting of Sachin Tendulkar and Kambli at a public event in Mumbai.
Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli are childhood friends. Both made their names in the cricketing world during the initial years of their careers. However, Sachin ended his career with good performances, while Kambli struggled to maintain the same position. Kambli's international career, which began in 1991, included 104 ODIs and 17 Tests for India but lasted less than a decade.
Also Read | Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar Share Emotional Moment During Rare Public Appearance (Watch Video).
In an old video that went viral on social media platforms, including on X, Dravid praises Kambli's "incredible ball-striking ability" but also says he struggles playing in other areas that need to succeed at the international level.
Dravid further said in a video, "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 judge talent, I think we've got to look at the whole package."
"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 further.
"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 the 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," the video ended.
