He made his first class debut for Haryana at the age of 16 and appeared in One Day Internationals a year later.

Early career

Making his first appearance in Tests against Pakistan at Lahore in 1984, he bowled Mohsin Khan with his fifth ball – becoming the third Indian to take a wicket in his first over in Test cricket. He took fourteen wickets in the three Tests in Sri Lanka in 1985. Later that season in Australia, with India needing a win in the last match of the league to qualify for the final of the World Series Cup, he played a match-winning innings of

Sharma was an important member of the Indian team that defeated England 2–0 in 1986. He took sixteen wickets in the two Tests that he played. He took 10 wickets at Birmingham, including a career best 6 for 58 in the second innings. It remains the only ten wicket haul by an Indian in England. Though only twenty at this time, he picked up frequent injuries which restricted his career. When available, he was the first choice as the opening bowler with Kapil Dev for the next three years.

For his ability to get useful runs down the order that too at quick rate, Chetan was seen as a natural successor to Kapil Dev in the all-rounder category. By the early nineties, his bowling dropped in pace and its sharpness and his strike rate had dropped considerably especially on Indian grounds. He bowled an infamous over in August 1991 at Delhi, where New Zealand batsman Ken Rutherford, took him apart for 34 runs in one over, including 4 mammoth sixes. Two of these disappeared out of the ground and the ball had to be replaced thrice. This was soon followed by another carnage in Sharjah against West Indies. West Indies needed 18 runs off 2 balls to win the semi finals of Sharjah Cup against India. Chetan bowled a no ball on which Carl Hooper hit a huge six over covers. The next 2 balls saw Carl Hooper hitting 2 more sixes leading to a West Indian victory under the most improbable circumstances. These woeful performances earned him the adage of “Anti Climax Hero”

1987 World Cup

In the Reliance World Cup in 1987, Sharma took the first hat-trick in the history of tournament when he clean bowled Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield of New Zealand off consecutive balls.

Post World Cup

He played the most noted innings of his career against England in the Nehru Cup in 1989. Sent in at No.3 with India facing a target of 256, he scored a 101* in 96 balls, completing his hundred with the match-winning run. He made another important contribution in India's win against Australia in the next match, sharing an unfinished partnership of 40 runs with Manoj Prabhakar and ending the match with a six. But his bowling had waned considerably and he was excluded from the tour of Pakistan a few weeks later.

Late career

Sharma received few opportunitie