Legendary Australia cricketer Ricky Ponting revealed that he was recently offered the job to be India’s next head coach by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). Notably, the Indian board is on a hunt for the replacement of incumbent coach Rahul Dravid with his contract expiring at the end of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024.
Ever since the BCCI invited applications for the role on May 13, there have been widespread reports of several foreign cricketers being approached to take up the job with Ponting being one of them. Reacting to the reports, the former Australia captain disclosed that he was involved in conversations with the BCCI officials regarding the position.
“I’ve seen a lot of reports about it. Normally these things pop up on social media before you even know about them, but there were a few little one-on-one conversations during the IPL, just to get a level of interest from me as to whether I would do it,” Ponting was quoted as saying by ICC.
Further speaking ahead, the 49-year-old expressed his eagerness to take up the coaching role of a senior men’s team. However, he revealed that being on the road with a national team doesn’t fit into his lifestyle at the moment as he intends to spend time with his family.
“I’d love to be a senior coach of a national team, but with the other things that I have in my life and wanting to have a bit of time at home. Everyone knows if you take a job working with the Indian team you can’t be involved in an IPL team, so it would take that out of it as well. Also, a national head coach is a 10 or 11-month of the year job, and as much as I’d like to do it, it just doesn’t fit into my lifestyle right now and the things that I really enjoy doing,” he added.
Notably, Ponting has previously served the role as Australia’s assistant coach in 2019 and also as the T20I coach of the side on an interim basis. However, he’s yet to take a full-time coaching job of a national side. In the Indian Premier League, he’s been serving as the head coach of DC since 2018.
Apart from him, there have been a few other names which’ve popped up regarding the Indian Head coach role such as Ponting’s former Australia teammate and former Australia head coach Justin Langer. Former New Zealand cricketer and current CSK head coach Stephen Fleming, former Sri Lanka cricketer who also served as the head coach of MI have been also reportedly contacted by the BCCI. Among India cricketers, former India opener Gautam Gambhir who’s serving as the mentor of KKR in IPL 2024 has been also offered the job as per reports.
