Ricky Ponting confirms BCCI offered him India head coach job, but he said no: ‘Gambhir, Langer, Fleming…’

Legendary Australian cricketer and current Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has confirmed that the BCCI has approached him to replace Rahul Dravid as coach of the Indian team after the T20 World Cup in the Americas this year. However, it is very unlikely that he will apply.

“I’ve seen a lot of reports about this,” Ponting told the ICC. “Normally these things appear on social media before you even know about them, but there were a few little one-on-one conversations during the IPL, just to pique my interest as to whether I would .

If Ponting takes over as India head coach, he will have to cut his ties with DC, which he is not ready to do. The constant travel to different parts of the world that the job required of the Indian coach also made the former Australian skipper worried.

“I would love to be a senior coach of a national team, but with the other things I have in my life and wanting to spend some time at home… everyone knows that if you take a job with the Indian team, you can’t be involved in an IPL team, so that would take away that as well.

“Also, a national head coach is a 10 or 11 month a year job, and as much as I would love to do it, it just doesn’t fit with my current lifestyle and the things I really enjoy doing . ,” he said.

Gambhir, Langer and Fleming in contention to become India coach

The BCCI started approaching big names in the IPL after Dravid made it clear that he would not reapply after the end of his extended T20 World Cup contract. The former Indian captain and his entire support staff were given an extension until the T20 World Cup by the BCCI after their initial contracts expired in November last year.

Ponting was one of the prominent names to have interested the BCCI due to his rich experience as a player and coach. Other names approached by the BCCI were Justin Langer (head coach of Lucknow Super Giants), Stephen Fleming (head coach of Chennai Super King), Gautam Gambhir (head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders) and Mahela Jayawardene (director of Mumbai Indians cricket).

“I’ve seen a few other names as well. Justin Langer’s name came up yesterday, Stephen Fleming’s name came up a little bit,” Ponting noted.

“Gautam Gambhir’s name has also come up a bit in recent days. But I think that would be unlikely for me, given the reasons I have given here.”

The deadline to apply for the India head coach position is May 27. After carefully reviewing the applications, the BCCI will then call the selected candidates for an interview with the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Sulakshana Naik, Ashok Malhotra and Jatin Paranjape.