Ricky Ponting turns down England white-ball head coach role; hints at IPL return

Former Australia captain and batting great Ricky Ponting has turned down any possibility of taking over England’s white-ball head coach role. Since Matthew Mott’s departure, the ECB has been actively looking out for a high-profile name to replace him with the single aim of winning ICC titles, and Ponting’s name was one of the options discussed, British media reportssuggested. Ponting, however, hasn’t ruled out a potential return to the IPL in the leadership group.

Knowing he has his hands full regarding coaching and other commitments and being transparent about maintaining his work-life balance, Ponting feels he is far from taking up a national team's head coach job.

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He, however, sounded hesitant in taking up England’s white-ball coach role, considering the age-old history between the two behemoths of world cricket.

"No, I wouldn't ever consider doing that actually," he said on The ICC Review podcast, as per news agency PTI.

"I'm on record saying that international jobs, for me right now, are not really where my life is at, as there's just so much more time taken up with an international job.

"Coaching other international teams is one thing, and coaching England for an Australian is probably something slightly different, but right now, there's sort of enough on my plate as I've got a bit more coming up in the next couple of months in the UK," Ponting added.

Ponting wishes to return to IPL

After parting ways with the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, with whom he spent seven years at the head coach position, Ponting is keen on retrying his luck with some other franchise ahead of IPL 2025. At DC, he could guide them to an IPL final only once (in 2020), failing to bring home the silverware during his tenure.

"I'd love to coach again in the IPL. I've had a great time every year that I've been involved, whether that was in the early days as a player or the couple of years I had at Mumbai as head coach there," Ponting said.

He added, "I've had seven seasons at Delhi, which unfortunately didn't really work out the way that I would have wanted and certainly the way that the franchise would have wanted."

"Me going there was all about trying to bring some silverware to the team, and that didn't happen," Ponting noted.

Explaining what happened behind the scenes, Ponting said the DC management was honest about what they want, saying they are looking for an Indian coach who can also remain available beyond the IPL season.

"What you'll find is that they'll probably end up with an Indian-based head coach. Certainly, that's some of the dialogue that I've had with them anyway.

"They made it pretty clear that they wanted to head in a different direction with someone that could give them a bit more time and a bit more availability through the off-season," Ponting added.

(With inputs from agencies)