Justin Langer Rules Himself Out of Team India Head Coach Position, Reveals KL Rahul Warned Him About 'Pressure' and 'Politics'

BCCI has been in search of a new Team India head coach as Rahul Dravid's tenure with the Indian cricket team is all set to expire after the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in June. The next assignments of Team India will be supervised by a new head coach for whom BCCI has released an advertisement calling applications. Several names have come forward as potential candidates including the likes Gautam Gambhir, Stephen Fleming, Mahela Jayawardena,  Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer. Reports have suggested a few of the mentioned names have already been approached with an offer although nothing is confirmed as of yet. Amidst this, Justin Langer has ruled himself out of the contention already.  Ricky Ponting Reveals Being Approached for India Cricket Team Head Coach Job; Declined Role To Spend Time With Family.

Langer, who has formerly coached the Australian cricket team aid on BBC's Stumped podcast. " "It would be an amazing job, [but] I have [put myself out of contention], I also know that it's an all-encompassing role, and having done it for four years with the Australian team, honestly, it's exhausting. And that's the Australian job!"

Langer was asked whether he would consider it in future to which he replied, "You never say never. And the pressure of doing it in India… I was talking to KL Rahul [the captain at Lucknow Super Giants, where Langer is the head coach] and he said, 'You know, if you think there's pressure and politics in an IPL team, multiply that by a thousand, [that's] coaching India. That was a good bit of advice, I guess. It would be an awesome job, but not for me at the moment." Andy Flower Hopes Glenn Maxwell Will Turn Around His Form in ICC T20 World Cup 2024 After Tough IPL Season.

Apart from Langer, Harbhajan Singh and Andy Flower have also opted not to apply for the job. Currently, Gautam Gambhir and Stephen Fleming are two frontrunners for the job.  However, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) CEO Kasi Viswanathan feels that the former New Zealand captain is unlikely to put his name forward. "I know that it's not going to be his cup of tea because he doesn't like to be involved [in coaching] for nine-ten months in a year. That's my feeling. I have not discussed anything more with him," Viswanathan said on CSK’s YouTube channel.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 23, 2024 11:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).