Kolkata Knight Riders received huge applause twice during the Indian Premier League’s 13th Player Auction in Kolkata on Thursday. While the first one — for a whopping ₹15.5 crore to get Pat Cummins — left everyone stunned, the second one, despite being at base price to sign Pravin Tambe — put a wide smile on everyone’s face in the enclosure.
That’s the impact Tambe has had on the Indian cricket fraternity. Doesn’t matter that the leggie from Mumbai was sold at ₹20 lakh. The fact that at 48, he attracted a bid in itself was a major development. Whether he actually gets a game during the IPL’s 2020 edition or not, he will definitely be the oldest player to be a part of IPL.
“Nothing changes at all,” the down-to-earth leggie tells The Hindu . He is neither excited nor surprised, having received a bid in the auction. “Obviously it feels good but am not so young that I will be thrilled with an IPL contract any longer.”
Till 2013, a regular on the maidans of Mumbai and nets of various teams, Tambe’s only taste of big-ticket events was during his five-year stint as the liaison officer for IPL games at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Once he made a sensational debut for Rajasthan Royals during the 2013 IPL and the Champions Trophy T20, he became the talk of the town.
Central point of motivation speakers
A First Class debut for Mumbai also followed but most importantly, Tambe has emerged as the central point of plenty of motivation speakers, including Rahul Dravid, his Rajasthan Royals captain.
“I have been a positive person all my life and have been serious about cricket. The biggest sense of achievement I get is when many of contemporaries and even some of the younger players who stopped playing before me call and say that I have inspired them to start playing cricket regularly again,” Tambe says.
“I have never retired. Age doesn’t matter and the level doesn’t matter. As long as I can remain fit, I will never stop playing cricket - be it the T20 tournament at Shivaji Park Gymkhana last week or the IPL.”
After having played the IPL last time for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016, the closest Tambe has been to top-flight cricket is the Abu Dhabi T10 league for the last two editions. It is indeed a mystery about how he was cleared to play in an off-shore commercial league. But it cannot be more enigmatic that the tireless spinner’s rise on a cricket field well into his 40s, isn’t it?
