Kambli hails from Indira Nagar, Kanjurmarg, a suburb of Mumbai. He is a childhood friend of the Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. The small patch of land that served as his first cricket pitch was surrounded on all sides by high-rise buildings.The scoring system was dictated by the lack of space, and the higher a batsman hit the ball into the buildings the more runs he scored. It explains why Kambli was one of the best over-the-top hitters of spin bowling.

He shared an unbroken partnership of 664 runs with Sachin Tendulkar in a school cricket match against St. Xavier's School, Fort. Kambli contributed 349 runs before their coach Acharekar forced the pair to declare the innings; he then took six wickets for 37 runs in St. Xavier's first innings.

Kambli started his Ranji Trophy career with a six off the first ball he faced. He made his One Day International and Test debuts in 1991 and 1992, respectively. In Tests, he made four centuries including two double-centuries. He also holds the record for the fastest Indian player (14 innings) to reach 1000 runs in Tests.

He scored 224 against England at Wankhede Stadium in 1993 as his maiden test century in his third test. In the next test against Zimbabwe, he scored 227. In his next test series he scored 125 and 120 against Sri Lanka. He is also the only cricketer to hit three consecutive test centuries in three innings, all centuries against different countries. In his 17 Tests, he averaged 69.13 in the first innings, and just 9.40 in the second innings, with a difference of 59.73.

He made his ODI debut in 1991 against Pakistan during the Wills Sharjah Trophy. He played world cup tournaments in 1992 and 1996. He has 2 ODI centuries in to his credit: 100 not out against England at Jaipur in 1993 on his birthday, setting the record for becoming the first batsman to score an ODI hundred on his birthday and 106 against Zimbabwe at Kanpur in the 1996 World Cup. Cricket lovers won't forget the picture of Kambli crying when he went back to the dressing room after Sri Lanka were awarded the semi-final match of the 1996 World Cup.

He played his last Test match at the age of only 24 while he played his last ODI in the year 2000 and formally announced his retirement from first class cricket on 22 September 2011.

He played for Boland province in the South African domestic circuit.

On 15 August 2009, Kambli launched his Khel Bharti Sports Academy in Mumbai and announced his retirement from cricket as he wished to coach at Khel Bharti Academy.

Vinod Kambli first married Noella Lewis, who was working as a receptionist at Hotel Blue Diamond (in Pune) in the year 1998. After separating from her Vinod Kambli married fashion model Andrea Hewitt. The couple has a child born in June 2010.^[18]

After his marriage to his second wife Andrea, Kambli converted to Christianity, naming his son Jesus Christiano Kambli.^[19] Despite his conversion Kambli stated that he still respects all religions.^[20]

Journalist Kunal Purandare has penned his biography called Vinod Kambli: The Lost Hero. He played for Boland province in the South African domestic circuit.

On Friday, 29 November 2013, Kambli was admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital, following a heart attack. Kambli was taken ill while he was driving from Chembur to Bandra and suddenly stopped the car. A policewoman on duty, Sujata Patil noticed he could not drive and arranged to rush him to Lilavati Hospital. Kambli had undergone angioplasty on two of his blocked arteries in 2012.