Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has revealed that he recently heard rumours about him becoming India's potential next head coach after Rahul Dravid's tenure. With Dravid set to depart following the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is looking for a new candidate to take over the high-profile role.
As a batting great and three-time World Cup winner with Australia, Ponting's name has been floating around as a potential successor to Dravid. The veteran cricketer opened up about the approach made to measure his interest.
"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, to get a level of interest from me as to whether I would do it," he told ICC.
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It just doesn't fit into my lifestyle right now and the things that I enjoy doing: Ricky Ponting
Ponting has had a successful coaching career since retiring from playing with the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL for seven seasons. He has also had stints as Australia's temporary coach. However, he has so far resisted the demands of a full-time international role, valuing family time at home.
"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 enjoy doing," he added.
The 49-year-old also revealed that he even shared the idea with his young son Fletcher Ponting of taking up the role of India's head coach.
"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 further added.
Also read: Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming in contention for India's head coach role
He even listed out the other names that have been circulating along with him with the likes of his former Australian teammate Justin Langer, Stephen Fleming, and Gautam Gambhir.
"I've seen a few other names thrown about as well. Justin Langer's name got thrown in yesterday, and Stephen Fleming’s name has been thrown about a little bit. Gautam Gambhir’s name has been thrown around a little bit in 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 concluded.
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