Ricky Ponting turns down India’s head coach role, says doesn’t fit his ‘lifestyle’
One of the greatest captains of all time, Ricky Ponting revealed that he was approached for India’s head coach position, which is soon-to-be-vacant. However, he has declined the offer stating that his current lifestyle doesn’t fit into this job right now.
Ricky Ponting didn’t reveal whether the offer of India’s head coach position came from the BCCI or not. He said, “…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.”
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During the IPL 2024, Rickey Ponting completed seven seasons as the head coach of the Delhi Capitals IPL franchise. He also has been Australia’s interim T20 coach in the past.
RICKY PONTING CONFIRMS HE WAS APPROACHED BY THE BCCI FOR THE HEAD COACH POST. 🇮🇳
– Ponting has declined the offer as he doesn't want to stay away from his family. pic.twitter.com/N42iddMWNC
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 23, 2024
Ricky Ponting as he turns down the offer
Turning down the offer of India’s head coach position Ponting said, “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.
Now that Ponting has turned down the offer to lead India as the head coach some other high-profile names that are doing rounds on social media are- Stephen Fleming, Justin Langer, and Gautam Gambhir.
Stephen Fleming is the head coach of the 5-time IPL champion team Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He won the IPL trophy last year in 2023 defeating Gujarat Giants in the final. The other contender Justin Langer is currently with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as head coach. Langer has not won any IPL trophy yet but he has won ICC T20 World Cup Trophy with Australia national team in 2021.
On the other hand, Gautam Gambhir is the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He successfully led KKR to the final of IPL 2024. Gambhir never had a proper coaching experience but during his mentorship stint with LSG and KKR in IPL, he has done quite a good job. Although he never won a trophy as mentor or coach but he has won 2 IPL trophies for KKR as a captain in 2012 and 2014.
Rahul Dravid is the current head coach of the Indian cricket team and he will vacate after India’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign next month. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has set May 27 as the last date for submitting applications for the post of head coach of the Indian cricket team.
