Indian parents want their kids to be Sachin Tendulkar and not Kapil Dev, says Chetan Sharma

Sharma is disappointed that most of the Indian youngsters doesn’t aspire to be a fast bowling all-rounder like Kapil

Former Indian fast-bowling all-rounder Chetan Sharma feels Indian parents are to blame for India’s inability to produce fast bowlers of genuine quality on a consistent basis, Times of India reports. According to the 49-year-old, the youngsters are being advised by their parents to aim at becoming a batsman like Sachin Tendulkar or a spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin, but not a fast-bowling all-rounder like Kapil Dev.

Sharma, who took the first ever hat-trick in World Cup history during the 1987 edition of the tournament, was arguably India’s best pace-bowling all-rounder after Kapil and was also coached by the latter’s mentor Desh Prem Azad. He is, however, unhappy that the present youngsters doesn’t dream about emulating the achievements of fast bowlers like Kapil and feels that Indian parents are largely responsible for the same.

"Parents try to drill it in their children's minds all the time that they have to become Tendulkar or Ashwin. I am sure no one says Kapil Dev. No one wants to be a fast bowler because there is a lot of effort there. I think there is a problem and a big one," he said.

"When a crore children are playing in India, and yet if we cannot find two genuine all-rounders, there is something drastically wrong somewhere. You have to invest two to three years at (the) school level to make these allrounders," Sharma added.

He also added that Indian parents are exerting undue pressure on their children.

"I often teach fast bowling at academies. Once the training is done and I step outside, around 50 parents ask me 'when is my son going to play for India?'. How old is the child? 12 years old. Parents over-involved. I think the problem lies there," he said.

Sharma, who is now heading a programme by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to identify cricketing talent in schools, also expressed concerns over the present state of school cricket in India.

"School cricket is at the lowest ebb. No one in doing anything about school cricket. I am a product of school cricket. Four, five cricketers who actually played for India like myself, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Maninder Singh, Saba Karim are products of school cricket," Sharma said.

Sharma was speaking in Goa at a promotional event for the state edition of the school cricket league which will see teams competing at the district, state, zonal and ultimately at the national level. He assured that youngsters who make the cut will be backed financially in terms of their education and is also hopeful that the league can help the BCCI in finding talent which would otherwise go un-noticed.

"Selected students below the age of 15 years will not have to worry about paying for their education. Our league will be taking care of it," Sharma said. "BCCI has the best infrastructure in the world as far as cricket is concerned. School cricket will give backup to BCCI as far as identifying talent at a young age is concerned. Some good cricketers end their potential careers in schools because there is no one to spot them."