I AM BACK...Vinod Kambli celebrates his recall to the Indian team for the Independence Cup with wife Noela at his Pune residence.

PUNE, May 7: Acutely aware that the India cap might as well not have come his way, cricket's `bad boy' Vinod Kambli is determined to give his all to the reprieve with a short and clear agenda: Shake off the tag and let his bat do the talking.

``I'm a completely changed man now, and I don't want to think about the past but start afresh,'' says Kambli who was yesterday named in the Indian team for the first three matches of the Independence Cup starting May 9. Although the flamboyant southpaw has been in and out of the Indian team, Kambli believes the last eight months since he was last dropped has brought about a sea change in him. ``I have changed my approach towards batting and life.''

Extremely happy over the recall, Kambli said: ``It was the few matches I played in the domestic cricket which made me look at the game in a different way. There is no substitute for positive approach in any walk of life, and that was what I realised when I went out to bat for Mumbai,'' he added.

In the same vein he adds, ``My parents, wife Noela and her parents kept motivating me. My recall is a reward for their efforts.''

On the changes that he brought about, he says: ``I have made a few adjustments to my technique in these eight months...And this time I will make my bat do the talking.

``Cricket is my life and I'm not going to quit so easily. Everybody has a bad patch and I would like to forget about my last engagements," he says. If he makes it to the eleven, Kambli will be playing his first comeback match against the Kiwis on his wedding anniversary. ``Being my third wedding anniversary will give me the necessary motivation,'' added Kambli.

Kambli leaves for Mumbai tomorrow and may proceed to Hong Kong for the World XI versus Australia's One day encounter. He is one of the team members of the World XI along with Rohan Gavaskar.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.