Former Australia cricketer and coach Justin Langer has said no to the Team India head coach job opportunity and revealed that it was because of advice he got from his Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul.
Langer, who was head coach of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, said that he had a conversation with the team's captain KL Rahul about what the Indian team is like.
"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!
And the pressure of doing it in India… I was talking to KL Rahul 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," said Langer on BBC's Stumped podcast.
Langer had been Australia's head coach from May 2018 to February 2022. He had taken over in the immediate aftermath of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and had initially earned praise for how he and captain Tim Paine led the team out of the situation.
Meanwhile, the revelation by Langer that he opted not to apply for the Indian team head coach job due to KL Rahul telling him about the politics and pressure in the team led to various responses by Team India fans on social media.
Here are some of the reactions:
