Former Australia skipper, Ricky Ponting has revealed that he had had made some efforts by reaching to certain people during the IPL to know how he can apply to become Indian coach. Ponting further stated that the people he was in talks with were pretty adamant about having him as the next India coach, but after giving it some thought, the two-time World Cup-winning skipper realized the demanding nature of the job and withdrew whatever little interest he had.

During a recent podcast with The Grade Cricketer, Ricky Ponting said, “I had a couple of conversations with some people during the IPL about it (the head coach gig). The people I spoke to were pretty hell-bent finding a way to make it work. The first thing I said was that I can’t give that much time, that means I can’t coach in the IPL.”

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He further added, “I would have to give up the 7 stuff (Channel 7) in summer. It just can’t work. But it’s nice to have people think that you can do these big jobs. But there’s a lot more that comes with it other than just yes or no.”

Ricky Ponting added that he was surprised to see Rahul Dravid take up the mantle, since, like him, the former Indian skipper also has a family to take care of. BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly had on Wednesday said that it did not take much time to convince Dravid about the role, with Ponting weighing in that with him not showing interest, and he feels that the right man has been finalized for the gig.

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RIcky Ponting elaboarted, “Actually, 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 but as I said, the people I spoke to were sure they got the right person so they were probably able to get Dravid to do it.”