Three-Time World Cup Winning Captain Ricky Ponting is not able to take up coaching roles with the Australian and Indian teams. What might be the reason? Does Ponting have any hard feelings for the Indian Cricket Board, BCCI? Any conflict of interest with Cricket Australia? Perhaps, too young for permanent coaching role? Ponting revealed his reason.
Time Commitment – As Simple As That
“Time is the only thing that’s stopping me [from taking the job], to be honest,” Ponting told The Grade Cricketer podcast. “I’d love to coach the Australian team, but what I have done with my playing career was being away from family as much. I have a young family now, a seven-year-old boy, and to give up 300 days a year is not what I would do. That’s where the IPL works so well for me.
“To be able to coach 8-10 weeks in winter months, and to be able to come back and do the Channel 7 stuff in the summer, I have got enough work to keep me happy and to keep me around the game but also be able to spend time with the family.
Coaching National Side is almost an Older man’s job – Ponting
“Let’s see what they [CA] do, if they ever split the coaches among say, white-ball and red-ball teams. I think everyone loves to coach the Australian team. I actually think, from my view, it’s almost an older man’s job and not for someone who has got a young family or for a person like Justin [Langer] where he is on the other end now where his family is all grown up and moved away.
You are not giving up that side of your life. It’s over 300 days a year, a pretty hard job. Justin’s been under pressure since he took over the job, more so, the last few months. That’s the only thing that would stop me – the time commitment.”
I will keep coaching Delhi Capitals – Ponting confirms
Ponting confirmed though he will continue to be with Delhi Capitals next IPL. He hasn’t extended his contract with them officially yet. Having worked as the head coach of Capitals for the last four seasons, he said he wants to focus on developing the younger players, grooming them to become stars.
“Some of the young players I have had the chance to work with are exceptional and really good people,” he said. “That’s what I want to be able to do – the Prithvi Shaws, the Shreyas Iyers, the Avesh Khans, these guys, we had them in the system for three-four years that have really turned into exceptionally good IPL players, and some of them have also turned into international players.
“For me, it is not even about those big-name players. If I can keep a few of these guys, great. But it’s more about the guys on the fringe – a lot of them haven’t played a game. When you see them in the team, at the training, how hard they train and how much they enjoy the game, that’s what I want to recreate if that’s possible.”
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