Rahul Dravid wasn’t the only choice for the India head coach role if Ricky Ponting is to be believed. The Australia captain, who has won two World Cups under his leadership, has revealed that he spoke to some people regarding the most demanding jobs available in cricket, and they were ‘hell bent’ on having him onboard. He also revealed that he gave it some thought and decided to drop out. “But [in this job] I am living in India for 300 days a year. Yeah, look I had a couple of conversations with some people during the IPL about it,” Ponting said while speaking on The Grade Cricketer podcast.
“You know the people I spoke to were pretty hell-bent on trying to find a way to make it work because the first thing I said was ‘I just can’t give up that time, it will mean I can’t coach in the IPL, I’ll have to give up [Channel] 7 stuff in the summer, it just can’t work’,” he added.
Had Ponting became the coach of Indian cricket team, he wouldn’t have been the first Australian to do so. Earlier Greg Chappell took up the job back in June 2005 and made quite a headline with his radical methods. This led to India’s downfall which ultimately led to 2007 World Cup debacle. Meanwhile Ponting also said that he was ‘surprised’ to see Rahul Dravid at the helm.
“I’m surprised that Dravid has taken it up as well. There was a lot of chat about how happy he was in his Under-19 role he had. I’m not sure about his family life but I’m sure he has got young kids. So I’m surprised that he took it.”
Ponting is currently the coach of IPL franchise Delhi Capitals. The team has done fairly well under him reaching play offs in last three consecutive seasons.
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