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Pravin Vijay Tambe (born 8 October 1971) is an Indian cricketer. Tambe made his Indian Premier League debut at the age of 41, becoming the oldest ever IPL debutant. He had no experience playing professional cricket prior his IPL debut.

Personal life

Praveen Tambe was born in a middle class Marathi family, to father Vijay Tambe and mother Jyoti Tambe. Prashant, his elder brother, is an engineer.

He is married to Vaishali Tambe. The couple has a son named Pranav Tambe and a daughter named Pari Tambe.

Early career

When Pravin was young, he wanted to be a fast bowler but it was his Orient Shipping captain Ajay Kadam who asked him to bowl as a leg spinner.

He had toiled for several years as a club level cricketer in Mumbai which he pursued as a side hustle while also holding down a day job. He started playing club cricket in the 1995–96 season with the Parsee Cyclists side in the D division of the Mumbai's domestic league. He then later switched to Parsee Gymkhana in the B division of the Mumbai's domestic league before leapfrogging to play in the top league when he joined the Shivaji Park Gymkhana. He was named in the Mumbai Ranji probables squad in between 2000 and 2002 but was not drafted in the final squad.

Indian Premier League

Pravin had an unusual career for a cricketer as he had never played first-class cricket but was picked for the Indian Premier League. Rahul Dravid, his chief mentor at Rajasthan Royals had said that Praveen Tambe is an even bigger inspiration than himself. During the early seasons of the IPL (in the first five seasons from 2008 to 2012), he worked as a liaison officer for about five years especially whenever matches were conducted at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

He received an IPL contract with Rajasthan Royals after being spotted by scouts during an invitational T20 tournament where he was noticed for his ability to bowl great variations of leg spin. It was initially revealed that Tambe was the coach of the B team of the DY Patil Sports Academy in their invitational T20 tournament which was held in January 2013. However, he had to step in as the first-choice bowler in place of injured Rahul Sharma and Tambe stepped up by taking 12 wickets which helped his side to win the invitational tournament. It was this performance in the invitational tournament that caught attention and helped him get an IPL contract with Rajasthan Royals. He made his professional cricket debut as well as his T20 debut playing for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Daredevils in the 2013 Indian Premier League at the age of 41.

Former club-mate and Mumbai selector Abey Kuruvilla also revealed that Pravin has only peaked over the last 8 years, ever since he switched from bowling medium pace to leg spin. During the 2014 Indian Premier League, Pravin took a hat-trick against Kolkata Knight Riders on 5 May 2014 in Ahmedabad by dismissing Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate which also helped him to earn the man of the match award. He briefly held the purple cap in IPL 2014 up till the 25th match of the tournament. He ended the 2014 IPL season on a high by taking 15 wickets (he was also the leading wicket taker for Rajasthan Royals in 2014 season) although Rajasthan Royals couldn't progress to playoffs after a disastrous loss to Mumbai Indians.

In 2016, he was bought by the Gujarat Lions franchise for the 2016 Indian Premier League season. In February 2017, Pravin was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad team for the 2017 Indian Premier League for 10 lakhs. In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League. He withdrew his initial retirement decision which he made in 2018 in order to return to IPL in 2020 after being bought by KKR for 20 lakhs in the 2019 auction. However, he was disqualified by the IPL governing body to take part in 2020 IPL after playing in a T10 league without getting proper permission from relevant authorities and for breaching BCCI's policies.

T10 Cricket League

In season two of the Abu Dhabi T10 League season, Pravin played for the Sindhis team. He initially announced his retirement in 2018 in order to play in the T10 league as the BCCI's rule strictly says an active Indian cricketer cannot play in a foreign league. In the fourth group phase match of the 2018 T10 League against Kerala Knights, he set a record by becoming the first player to take a 5 wicket haul in the history of the T10 format when he dismissed Chris Gayle, Eoin Morgan, Kieron Pollard, Fabian Allen and Upul Tharanga. By dismissing Morgan, Pollard and Allen in consecutive balls he became the second player after Shahid Afridi to take a hat-trick in T10 league.

Domestic and T20 franchise career

He received the Golden Wicket award (for taking most wickets in the tournament) in 2013 Champions League Twenty20. He ended up taking 12 wickets in five matches with an impressive average of 6.50 which was even far better than the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Sunil Narine. He was also the most economical bowler for the Royals in the 2013 CLT20 final against the Mumbai Indians where he delivered a crucial spell of 2/19 in 4 overs.

Pravin received his maiden call for the Mumbai cricket team squad in the 2013–14 Ranji Trophy and made his debut in the next round against the Orissa cricket team. He made his List A debut for Mumbai in the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 25 February 2017.

In July 2020, Pravin was named in the Trinbago Knight Riders squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He became the first Indian cricketer to get a contract in the CPL. On 26 August 2020, he played in the match between Trinbago Knight Riders and the St Lucia Zouks, to become the first ever Indian cricketer to play in the CPL. He had to retire again from Indian cricket in order to take part in the 2020 CPL after he initially withdrew his retirement when he intended to play in 2020 IPL.

Popular culture

A biopic based on his life titled 'Kaun Pravin Tambe?' starring Shreyas Talpade was released on 1 April 2022 on Disney+ Hotstar.

References

1. Mohit (30 September 2013). "Pravin Vijay Tambe". SmashReport. Archived from the original on 10 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
2. "Pravin Tambe: Life begins at 42". Cricket Country. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
3. "Pravin Tambe - my IPL hero". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
4. Gulati, Rushali (19 April 2023). "Pravin Tambe Biography in Hindi". Retrieved 17 June 2023.
5. "The Pravin Tambe fairytale". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
6. ^ "The wait pays off for Tambe". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
7. ^ "CLT20: Pravin Tambe's success a great story, says Dravid". Firstpost. Jaipur. Press Trust of India. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
8. "Pravin Tambe is a bigger inspiration than I: Rahul Dravid". DNA India. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
9. AnkitBanerjee. "Pravin Tambe: The man who defied his age to become a successful cricketer". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
10. "The over 40s... and almost". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
11. "Full Scorecard of Daredevils vs Royals 52nd match 2013 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
12. "Who is Pravin Tambe?". ESPNcricinfo. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
13. "IPL's hat-trick heroes". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
14. "25th match (D/N), Pepsi Indian Premier League at Ahmedabad, May 5 2014 - Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
15. "Pepsi Indian Premier League, 2014 Cricket Team Records & Stats | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
16. "List of players sold and unsold at IPL auction 2017". ESPNcricinfo. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
17. "IPL auction analysis: Do the eight teams have their best XIs in place?". ESPNcricinfo. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
18. "IPL 2020: 48-year-old KKR buy Pravin Tambe disqualified from tournament". Hindustan Times. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
19. "IPL 2020: 48-year-old KKR buy Pravin Tambe 'ineligible' to compete in tournament - Report". Hindustan Times. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
20. "Fairytale ends: IPL's oldest player, Pravin Tambe, disqualified". The Indian Express. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
21. "What is T10 Cricket League". SportsWhy. 25 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
22. "Scorecard of Knights vs Sindhis, 4th Match, Group A at Sharjah, November 22 2018, T10 League". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
23. "Tambe's hat-trick follows Aamer Yamin's four in four on bowlers' night". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
24. "Pravin Tambe registers record-breaking hat-trick in T10 league". The Indian Express. 23 November 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
25. "Mumbai coach talks up ageless Tambe". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
26. "Champions League Twenty20, 2013/14 Cricket Team Records & Stats | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
27. "Age no bar to star in CLT20". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
28. "Full Scorecard of Mumbai vs Royals Final 2013/14 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
29. "Tambe named in Mumbai Ranji squad for first time". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
30. "Pravin Tambe to make Ranji debut for Mumbai at 42". Firstpost. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
31. "Vijay Hazare Trophy, Group C: Gujarat v Mumbai at Chennai, Feb 25, 2017". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
32. "Nabi, Lamichhane, Dunk earn big in CPL 2020 draft". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
33. "Teams Selected for Hero CPL 2020". Cricket West Indies. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
34. "CPL 2020 draft: Pravin Tambe, at 48, 1st Indian cricketer to bag Caribbean Premier League contract". India Today. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
35. "Pravin Tambe becomes first Indian to play CPL". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
36. Acharya, Shayan (26 August 2020). "Pravin Tambe, the oldest player and first Indian in CPL T20". Sportstar. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
37. "Pravin Tambe retires, withdraws and retires yet again to become first Indian player to play in CPL". Hindustan Times. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
38. Magotra, Ashish (8 September 2020). "Pravin Tambe's time in CPL has shown us why it's a shame that he cannot have another chapter in IPL". Scroll.in. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
39. "Pravin Tambe biopic starring Shreyas Talpade to release on Disney+ Hotstar". The Hindu. PTI. 8 March 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
40. "Kaun Pravin Tambe trailer: Shreyas Talpade shines as cricketer who never gave up, Rahul Dravid makes a cameo. Watch". Hindustan Times. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
41. "Pravin Tambe's storied life to be made into a biopic". The Indian Express. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2022.

External links

• Pravin Tambe at ESPNcricinfo
• Pravin Tambe's Biopic at Cricket and Cricketer

• 1971 births
• Living people
• Indian cricketers
• Mumbai cricketers
• Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
• Rajasthan Royals cricketers
• Gujarat Lions cricketers
• Trinbago Knight Riders cricketers
• Cricketers from Mumbai