Sachin Tendulkar felicitated at Mumbai Cricket Association Event

Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday requested the Mumbai Cricket Association to improve its talent pool by making its inter-college and inter-school competition a 15-player affair.

"When we have the inter-school and inter-college matches in that, instead of the 11-member team can we take 15 players. The boy who leaves his home everyday to play a match with a hope that he will do something, a lot of times he doesn't know whether he is going to play or not," he said.

Tendulkar, who was felicitated at the MCA function, said: "With the introduction of IPL, we have seen people coming from different parts of the country. Our captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is from a small town. Not many cricketers used to come from that area earlier. Nowadays we frequently see people coming from small towns".

He emphasized that many kids might not be as gifted as others but deserved a chance to play at least a few matches and get a shot at the opportunity.

"To avoid this situation, because for a small kid, Prithvi and Mushir are talented but many are on the border line. Many a times, the wicket may be a turning track and having a third seamer has no point. Sometimes there is only one seamer and there is a spinner bowling from the other end. In that there is no fault of the poor 12-year old fast bowler. But he is prepared to work hard for the entire year not knowing that he may not be picked.

"Giles shield and Harris shield being knock out tournaments, you don't know how many matches you are going to get. I feel how every player can get minimum three matches, it could be Giles Shield, it could be Harris Shield, inter-collegiate, till the time the player starts earning and can stand on his own feet, till that time MCA should give support to these cricketers," he said.

The former India captain said that it would also test the players as they would be facing different bowling attacks.

"If we see the bigger picture, then in Mumbai itself about 10,000 children would benefit. The selectors will also get to see a lot of talent. The quality of cricket will also improve because constantly when the batsmen score runs, they would do it against quality bowling attack. It wouldn't be like only one fast bowler is playing and others are spinners in the team. If somebody is good against spin bowling and not as good against fast bowling, he can score against the spinners and move forward or vice-versa. If it is a seaming track, why a left-arm spinner or an off-spinner should sit out the match," he said.

"I also know that maybe a question would arise somewhere that Arjun is playing that is why (this suggestion) and it is nothing like that. Many cricketers have played with me who had family support and the same way there were many who did not have the family support. In fact there have been a few people who have left home to play cricket and they have not been successful. But for the passion of cricket they left their homes and kept their passion alive," he said.

Tendulkar said that he would continue to support his son irrespective of his success and felt it is important to give opportunities to children.

"I feel whether Arjun becomes successful or not my support will anyways be there but what about those unfortunate children who may not have support from family and still a lot of them (parents) would be saying nothing is going to come out of cricket study and become an engineer, a doctor, I have a doctor at home, and there is nothing wrong in it," he said.

Tendulkar also wished his mentor Ramakant Achrekar on his 81st birthday.

He said that he practised at the MCA's Bandra Kurla (BKC) facility for many years.

"A few years ago there wasn't the MCA BKC Club. And practising on monsoons was a little tough because there were no indoor nets. I used to actually go out on playgrounds and practice even while it was raining. But it was also a lot of fun. The new generation wouldn't be as lucky to play in the rains. While playing in the rain, the dirt goes in your eyes first and then you see the ball. It makes it challenging to focus," he said.