KL Rahul warns Justin Langer out of India head coach gig: ‘If you think there’s pressure and politics in an IPL team, multiply that a thousand’ | Cricket News

After Ricky Ponting, another Australian contender for the Indian men’s national team head coach gig seems to have ruled himself out. Former Australian opener and Lucknow Super Giants coach, Justin Langer has said that the time isn’t right for him to take up the “awesome job.”
Speaking on BBC’s Stumped podcast, Langer shared the reason behind him not considering the job – a conversation he had with the LSG skipper KL Rahul.
“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 a thousand, [that’s] coaching India. That was a good bit of advice, I guess,” Langer shared.
“It would be an amazing job, (but) I have (to 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,” he added.
Langer, who was the head coach of the Australian national team between 2018 and 2022, had joined the LSG franchise ahead of IPL 2024, and was among the names being considered as a possible successor to Rahul Dravid, whose current tenure with the Indian team is set to end after the T20 World Cup.
Langer’s former teammate and captain, Ricky Ponting had also revealed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India had approached him to be the head coach of the Indian cricket team. However, the Australian cricket legend turned down the offer because it did not “fit into his lifestyle right now”.
“I’ve seen a lot of reports about it (him being offered a job BCCI),” Ponting, who is currently working as a head coach of the Delhi Capitals, told the ICC. “Normally, these things pop up on social media before you even know about them, but 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.”
Another candidate has been the Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming. But in a recent video on the CSK YouTube channel, the franchise CEO Kasi Viswanathan has suggested that the Kiwi is unlikely to take up the gig.
“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.
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