Vinod Kambli is not living in an old age home. The former India batter, 54, went viral on September 25 in a video filmed at Nidan, an elderly care centre in Thane. The centre’s founder, Mahesh Naik, has since said Kambli’s wife has taken him home.
The clip shows Kambli speaking to the camera and praising the staff. Much of the coverage that followed said he had moved into an old age home. Nidan’s own account is different: he came there for treatment.
“I am Vinod Kambli. And where I am… I am in Nidan. I have received very good facilities, and I would say hygiene and all, everything is first class. Here nowhere does it feel like I am not at home. I have received a lot of love from the people here.”
Vinod Kambli, video from Nidan, Thane, September 2026 (translated from Hindi)
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Naik told ETV Bharat that Kambli first came to Nidan in 2025 on a referral from Akriti Hospital and stayed for five to six months. When he arrived, he could not stand on his own.
The centre gave him physiotherapy and other treatment. He later returned for more physiotherapy and is managing high blood sugar. Naik has offered him a free stay at Nidan, for as long as he wants, for the rest of his life.
The video showed a man thanking his carers. What it did not show is why a former Test cricketer keeps returning to a physio routine, and why that is not the same as being left behind.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Dec 2024 | Admitted to Akriti Hospital, Thane, with a urinary infection and cramps. Tests found old clots in his brain. |
| Jan 2025 | Discharged after about two weeks |
| Apr 2025 | Sunil Gavaskar’s CHAMPS Foundation starts paying Rs 30,000 a month for life, plus Rs 30,000 a year for medical costs |
| 2025 | Five to six months of rehab at Nidan |
| Aug 2025 | Brother Virendra says he is stable but struggling to speak |
| Apr 2026 | Wife Andrea Hewitt calls reports about his health false |
| Sep 25, 2026 | Video from Nidan goes viral |
| Sep 26, 2026 | Naik says Kambli’s wife has taken him home |
Insider Read
For twenty years, a cricketer never decides when his body gets looked after. Nets, physio and fitness tests run on someone else’s timetable, and he just turns up. When the cricket stops, as it did for Kambli in 2000, that timetable disappears, and most players never build their own.
That is what Nidan gave back. A man who could not stand when he arrived got a daily routine with a physio waiting for him, the same structure a dressing room runs on. Going back for more is not abandonment: it is a player returning to the only kind of system his body was trained to answer to.
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