Australia legend Ricky Ponting has revealed he was recently approached about taking over from Rahul Dravid as India’s next head coach but despite significant interest in the job, it is an “unlikely” option for him as he feels it doesn’t “fit into his lifestyle right now”.
Ponting just finished his seventh season as coach of the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the former Australia captain had mixed fortunes during this year’s tournament with his side narrowly missing out on the playoffs.
Despite having enjoyed coaching stints in the IPL with Mumbai and Delhi and filling in as Australia’s national T20I coach on an interim basis in the past, Ponting has so far resisted the urge to take on the rigours of a high-profile national team on a full-time basis.
“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 the ICC.
“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.
The deadlines for filling applications for the India head coach’s job closes on May 27, the day after the IPL final, and besides Ponting, former India opener Gautam Gambhir has been tipped as one of BCCI’s top choices for the role. Among other big names floating are former Aussie Test opener Justin Langer and ex-New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming.
“I’ve seen a few other names thrown about as well. Justin Langer’s name got thrown in yesterday, Stephen Fleming’s name has been thrown about a little bit,” Ponting noted.
“Gautam Gambhir’s name has been thrown around a little bit the last couple of days as well. But I think it’d be unlikely for me just on the reasons that I’ve given there,” he added.
Ponting’s son urged him to take up India offer
The former World Cup-winning captain also revealed when he told his youngest child Fletcher about the offer, he encouraged him to take it up so that they could move to India for a few years.
“My family and my kids have spent the last five weeks over at the IPL with me and they come over every year and I had a whisper to my son about it, and I said, ‘Dad’s been offered the Indian coaching job’ and he said, ‘Just take it dad, we would love to move over there for the next couple of years’” Ponting laughed.
“That’s how much they love being over there and the culture of cricket in India, but right now it probably doesn’t exactly fit into my lifestyle,” he reiterated.