‘Let me train your kids, let Sachin teach ours’

Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar wants to train Indian children in a bid to help the country produce a ‘‘genuine’’ fast bowler. ‘‘I would like to give my talent to young ones. Sachin Tendulkar can help our kids becoming great batsmen and I can help India get a genuine fast bowler’’, he told Shekhar Gupta, Editor-inChief, The Indian Express, on NDTV 24×7’s ‘Walk The Talk’ programme.

‘‘If the bus service (between the two countries) can open, flight services can resume, why can’t cricketers be ambassadors for each country’’, he said, adding that such a thing could help both countries to become formidable forces in world cricket.

Akhtar said that he was surprised how India could not produce genuine fast bowlers despite being such a big country. ‘‘In such a big country, there should be at least two genuine fast bowlers’’, he said. He openly acknowledged his respect for Sachin Tendulkar, saying that he was one of the greatest in the history of the game. ‘‘Sachin is in an altogether different league.”