Australia legend Ricky Ponting has disclosed that he was approached for the soon-to-be vacant India head coach position, but he denied the offer because it does not fit into his “lifestyle” right now. Ponting, who just concluded seven seasons as the head coach of the IPL side Delhi Capitals, has previously served as Australia’s temporary T20 coach. He declined to disclose whether the BCCI sent out feelers on India’s position. “…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 told the International Cricket Council.
I’d love to be a senior coach for a national team, but with everything else going on in my life and wanting to spend more time at home…everyone knows that if you work with the Indian team, you can’t be engaged in an IPL team, so that would be out of the picture 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 stated.
Ponting stated that he reviewed the proposition with his son, who appeared open to a transfer to India.
“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,” he said.
“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 said.
“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 said.
Other high-profile names include Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming, Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer, and Kolkata Knight Riders coach Gautam Gambhir.
The BCCI has set May 27 as the deadline for submitting applications.
