"Who wants to be a bowler? Everybody wants to be like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dhoni or Gambhir who are officers," the former Indian captain said here today.
"Bowlers are majdoors (workers). Who wants to be a worker? Everybody wants to be an officer," he added.
He was replying to a question raised by the audience on paucity of fast bowlers in the country during an interaction with students, parents and faculty members of a city-based school.
Later, when approached by reporters on the statement, the first Indian bowler who took 400 wickets in Test cricket said, "Even a five-wicket haul (in a match) gets a bowler less credit than a century (by a batsman)."
Asked about role models, Kapil said, "My role models have kept on changing ... As I enter a new phase of life and my circle broadens I start learning new things."
His current role model is anti-apartheid activist and former South Africa president Nelson Mandela, while former India batsman Gundappa Rangnath Viswanath was his hero in cricket.
"I used to worship him (Viswanath)," he added. MORE
