BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has clarified reports that BCCI had conversations with former Australian cricketers to take over Rahul Dravid’s role as Indian head coach says “Neither I nor the BCCI have approached”.
As Rahul Dravid’s tenure as head coach is set to come to an end after the T20 World Cup 2024, BCCI approached many leading coaches including Justin Langer, Stephen Fleming and Gautam Gambhir to take over the role. However, Shah said the board hadn’t approached the Australians.
“Neither I nor the BCCI have approached any former Australian cricketer with a coaching offer,” Shah said in a statement. “The reports circulating in certain media sections are completely incorrect.
“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.”
With May 27 as the deadline for the application, BCCI has not yet confirmed any names of the participants.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting revealed on The ICC Review he had ‘one-on-one conversations during the IPL’ regarding his interest in the role.
“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 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.
Ponting, who has had his family with him during his coaching stint with Delhi Capitals, states that he did tell his son Fletcher about the job offer.
“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'” revealed Ponting.
“That’s how much they love being over there and the culture of cricket in India, but right now it probably doesn’t exactly fit into my lifestyle.”
Meanwhile, Andy Flower, the head coach of RCB, confirmed that he hasn’t applied for the India head coach’s role.
“I haven’t applied. I won’t be applying. I’m happy with my involvement in the franchise game at the moment. I’m really enjoying it. It’s fascinating stuff and I’m working with some amazing organizations so I’m really happy with that at the moment.”
Speaking of the ICC event, India will play their first match of the tournament against Ireland on June 5 in Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York.
