The legendary Australia cricketer Ricky Ponting was reportedly approached by the BCCI with an offer to take up the role of the head coach of the Indian cricket team. However, Ponting, who is currently associated with the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals, turned it down.
While the reasons for his refusal are unknown and in all likeliness, the legendary Rahul Dravid will succeed Ravi Shastri as the head coach of Indian cricket team now.
“Rahul was the only ideal candidate. The challenge was making him agree to it. Truth be told, there’s no other choice”, a source was quoted as saying.
Under Ponting, DC ended runners-up last season and made the playoffs this year as well.
Though Dravid was approached earlier too, the former India captain was not keen on taking over as the head coach as he was more interested to continue working as the head of the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
Reportedly, BCCI told Dravid that he won’t be able to continue at NCA at his current salary and therefore if he does wish to continue his association with Team India, taking over as the new head coach is his only choice.
Dravid was the coach of a second-string Indian limited-overs squad for the Sri Lanka tour earlier this year when several senior members of the Indian team were in England for a Test tour.
