BCCI secretary Jay Shah has denied that the cricket board approached former Australia captain Ricky Ponting for the Team India’s head coach role. India are currently looking to hire a new head coach with Rahul Dravid set to step down after the T20 World Cup 2024.
Ponting had recently revealed that he was approached by BCCI for India’s head coach position. Former Australian opener Justin Langer also shared something similar a few days back.
“Neither I nor the BCCI have approached any former Australian cricketer with a coaching offer. The reports circulating in certain media sections are completely incorrect,” Shah said in a statement.
Shah added that BCCI is focussed on getting someone who has “in-depth knowledge of our domestic cricket framework,” indicating that the next head coach could be an Indian.
“Finding the right coach for our national team is a meticulous and thorough process. We are focused on identifying individuals who possess a deep understanding of the Indian cricket structure and have risen through the ranks,” Shah said
Ponting had said that he has had “one-on-one conversations” during the IPL but is not interested because it will be difficult to balance the job with his current lifestyle.
“I’ve seen a lot of reports about it (him being offered a job by BCCI),” Ponting told the ICC. “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."
“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.”
