Kambli in hospital

VINOD Kambli, the former India batsman once considered as gifted as his school friend Sachin Tendulkar, was recovering in a Mumbai hospital yesterday after a suspected heart attack, doctors and his family said.

Kambli, 41, who had undergone angioplasty on two blocked arteries last year, was admitted to the Lilavati hospital on Friday morning after complaining of chest pain while driving.

‘‘He is in the intensive care unit and we are monitoring his medical parameters,’’ hospital director Narendra Trivedi said. ‘‘He is stable and there is nothing to worry about.’’

Kambli shot to fame along with Tendulkar in 1988 when the two teenagers shared a then world record 664-run partnership in an inter- school match in Mumbai, with both making unbeaten triple centuries.

While Tendulkar retired last month as the world’s leading run-maker in Test and one-day cricket, Kambli faded after a bright start.

The flamboyant lefthander hit two doublecenturies and two hundreds in his first eight Test innings but more three-figure knocks in Tests eluded him.