Former Australia cricket team captain Ricky Ponting has revealed that he was recently approached by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to potentially become the next head coach of Indian cricket team.
Currently, Rahul Dravid holds the position of team India head coach, but his tenure comes to an end after the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. With this impending vacancy, BCCI is actively searching for a new head coach.
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"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 told 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," Ponting added.
In addition to Ponting, outgoing coach Rahul Dravid, Zimbabwean international Andy Flower and former Australian batter Justin Langer are some other names who reportedly have all declined the offer to become the head coach of the Indian cricket team.
Ponting concluded his seventh season as the coach of the Delhi Capitals in Indian Premier League (IPL). Under his mentorship, the team failed to qualify for IPL 2024 playoffs, marking a disappointing end to their season.