The legendary batsman and former former Australian captain Ricky Ponting revealed that The BCCI approached him with the offer of India Men’s coaching role, but the turned the offer down due to lifestyle constraints.
Ponting was Australia’s temporary T20 coach in the past and most recently wrapped up seven seasons as the head coach of the Delhi Capitals IPL team.
The former Australian star batsman said to ICC that although he wants to be a national team coach one day, his present lifestyle doesn’t suit the job as it will take him away from his family for the majority of the time.
“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,” Ponting added.
Rahul Dravid’s job as head coach of the India Men’s side for all three formats is set to expire after the 2024 T20 World Cup, to be played in June in North America. To find Dravid’s successor, the BCCI had asked for applications last week.
In the interim period, reports and rumours of several cricketers being approached had surfaced. Among them were Gautam Gambhir, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, and Justin Langer.
However, Ponting has not ruled out the possibility of taking up the role in future:
“I had a whisper to my son about it the other day. I said ‘oh, dad’s been offered the Indian coaching job, what do you reckon?’ He said, ‘just take it, dad, we’d love to live over there for the next couple of years. That’s how much they love being over there and the culture of cricket in in India. But you know, right now it probably doesn’t exactly fit into my lifestyle … on a full-time basis.”
Ponting also spoke on the exact nature of the BCCI’s offer:
“It was a very flippant sort of conversation that I had. I’m not sure if they’re looking for a coach of all three formats or looking for a Test match coach. It sounded to me like there was more of a talk around a red-ball coach. That’s about as far as the conversations went, but I’m pretty happy doing what I’m doing.”