"I wish he could have taken my name in his speech" - Vinod Kambli hurt as Sachin Tendulkar ignores him in his farewell

Sachin Tendulkar might have won over everyone’s heart with his farewell speech at the Wankhede stadium but there is someone who is deeply hurt. Tendulkar’s childhood friend and former Indian cricketer, Vinod Kambli has expressed his hurt that Tendulkar left him out of his farewell speech and even didn’t invite him for the farewell dinner.

“I wish he could have taken my name in his speech because I was expecting him to at least mention our world record partnership because it was from there that we started… it was a career-changing innings. I was definitely hurt,” Kambli said on a TV channel.

Kambli, who grew up with Tendulkar in the same school since he was 10 years old, said: “We shared everything, we grew up together and we learnt from each other. There were frequent comparisons who were a better hitter of the ball, but we didn’t care.”

Kambli further said he remembered his entire journey with Tendulkar while the Indian maestro was giving his emotional farewell speech and he had tears in his eyes as well.

“When he made the speech all the things were coming in front of my eyes and even when he had tears in his eyes, I couldn’t control mine. The way he has served the country, I salute him.”

The rift between the two friends happened when in 2009 when Kambli went on a TV reality show and accused Tendulkar of not doing enough to save Kambli’s cricket career. Tendulkar from there on severed all ties with him and stopped communicating with his childhood friend.

“After that, we never spoke. It has been very difficult for me since we were close friends. I don’t know if there is any friendship left,” – An emotional Vinod Kambli said.