Daily Times

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has revealed he was approached to be India’s next head cricket coach, but said the demands of the high-profile job meant he was unlikely to take it up.

Ponting, 49, is head coach of Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League and has television commitments in Australia.

He is also the head of strategy at Hobart Hurricanes for Australia’s Big Bash League and head coach of Washington Freedom in the US Major League Cricket tournament.

“I’ve seen a lot of reports about it,” Ponting was quoted as saying Thursday by the International Cricket Council website.

“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,” he added.

“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.” Ponting said being a national coach would mean devoting up to 11 months of the year to the job. “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,” he added.