Ricky Ponting explains why he refused Team India's head coach job as Dravid assumes charge

The new era of Indian cricket has begun as Rahul Dravid took over the side's head coach job from Ravi Shastri after the latter stepped down from his position post the T20 World Cup. Although Dravid has proven his coaching abilities, having been Team India's U-19 coach previously, it seems he was not the first choice.

Soon after the former Indian batter took over the position, Australian batting legend Ricky Ponting revealed that he too was offered the role while coaching the Delhi Capitals (DC) during IPL 2021. The DC head coach claimed that people who approached him for the same were 'hell-bent' on getting him on board. However, he had to decline the offer owing to his current workload.

Ricky Ponting explains why he declined India's head coach job

While speaking on The Grade Cricketer podcast, Ricky Ponting said, "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. 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."

Meanwhile, Ponting admitted he was surprised that Rahul Dravid took over the head coach job since he had 'young kids' and a family. "I'm surprised that Dravid has taken it up as well. There was a lot of chat about how happy he was in the 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," added the Australian batting legend.

Ricky Ponting's achievements as Delhi Capitals coach

Ricky Ponting has done a remarkable job as the head coach of the Delhi Capitals over the past few seasons. Since taking over the role in 2018, DC have qualified for the playoffs in three consecutive seasons since 2019. Moreover, the team also made it to their maiden finals in 2020 where they lost to five-time champions Mumbai Indians.