Mumbai: Former India batsman Vinod Kambli on Tuesday said that he took up coaching on the advice of his friend and one-time teammate Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar and Kambli were students of famed coach Ramakant Achrekar and both went on to play for India and their friendship endured through thick and thin.

Kambli credited Tendulkar for bringing him back on a cricket field, not as a player but as a coach. “When I retired from cricket, it had occurred to me, now what; I thought, will I do commentary or be an expert on TV, but my love has always been cricket, so I got on to the field,” he said.

The former left-handed batsman was speaking to reporters after a cricket coaching academy was launched at the Bandra Kurla Complex of the Mumbai Cricket Association, where Kambli will be conducting the sessions. “Sachin [Tendulkar] knows how much I love cricket, so he said to me why don’t you start coaching, so I would say that I have embarked a path which he [Tendulkar] has shown and I have started on it,” Kambli, the first Indian to score two back-to-back double hundreds, told reporters in Mumbai.

“So I would say that he [Tendulkar] has a big hand in bringing me back on to the field. Whatever we have learnt from [Ramakant] Achrekar Sir, so I think the time has come to pass it on to the next generation; if the youngsters can take advantage of this, it will be great,” Kambli, known for his flamboyant batting, added.

“I would like to inculcate the values what Achrekar Sir has passed on — especially getting the basics right all the time, whether you are playing for the school, or Ranji Trophy or for your country,” Kambli said. “[The] one thing which I always remember, which I am going to pass on to the students — usually people say practice makes a man perfect but my coach [Achrekar] Sir used to say perfect practice makes a man perfect, so that’s how me and Sachin and all his students work towards having a perfect practice,” he quipped.

He said the role of a coach was 30 per cent and that of the players was 70 per cent. Asked how important was Vidharbha coach Chandrakant Pandit’s role in their maiden Ranji Trophy win, Kambli said, “Chandu, body knows, he has been my coach as well, really enjoyed playing under him, all I can say is that 30 per cent is the [role of] coach and 70 per cent is the player but that 30 per cent is equal to 100 per cent.”