Being the head coach of India is one of the biggest jobs in cricket, and former Australia head coach Justin Langer believes it can be very exhausting for the incumbent if the timing is not right. Langer, who was the coach of Lucknow Super Giants during this IPL season, did not comment on his desire to become India's head coach, a position that will be vacated by Rahul Dravid after the T20 World Cup in the Americas. I was asked many times. “Being the head coach of the Indian cricket team would be almost the biggest job in cricket,” Langer said when asked if the Indian board had approached him for the job.
“One is because the amount of cricket is huge and the expectations are huge. It's going to be a big challenge. It's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be a great opportunity to win the ICC title,” Lucknow Super Giants said. Langer spoke to the media at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai after the team defeated Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in the last IPL match of the season.
Langer cited the immense pressure and workload that comes with being India's coach, adding that it has not been long since he held a similar role for Australia.
“But given all these things, the timing has to be right. I was with the Australian cricket team for about four years. It's all-encompassing. It's very tiring,” said the 53-year-old. said the man.
“Rahul Dravid will probably say the same thing, Ravi Shastri will probably say the same thing. The pressure to win is huge for the Indian team,” he said.
He hinted that he might not be mentally ready to commit 10 months of the year to the job.
“I'm sure the next person to take on this job will be really looking forward to this project,” Langer added.
IPL is as big as the World Cup
Langer compared the pressure of IPL to that of a World Cup tournament, adding that it is the best domestic tournament in the world.
“What I can say clearly is that this is the best domestic tournament in the world. You can't get over the toughness of the competition. There are a lot of good players. There are a lot of good teams. The pressure to perform is huge.” he said.
“I think the biggest thing is that cricket is really tough. It's like the World Cup. Honestly, it's like the same kind of pressure as the World Cup and I've had some great I went to the World Cup.
“It is a credit to the IPL that we have been able to continue to produce such fun, interesting and evolving cricket in front of packed crowds with lots of noise every game. And matches are played every night.
“I miss going home. I go home on the weekends. I actually really miss going home. I love it,” he added.
Langer admitted that selecting LSG players for their national teams at the World Cup may have been a hindrance.
“Ever since the World Cup selection, I felt there were distractions in every IPL, but things seem to be changing little by little,” he said.
“I don't know exactly what happened, but we had some bad matches and it cost us. We played some really good cricket. We got off to a good start. I was warned about May. Everyone is active in April, but how you spend May is very important in IPL.
“(It's) something we failed to do. We'll analyze it as best we can, but it's a shame because we had a very good team. We missed some injuries to our bowlers, but that made the difference. ” Langer said, adding that dropped catches “killed” the team this season.
Standing beside batsman KL Rahul
However, Langer supported Rahul despite consistent criticism of his batting average.
“I've heard the criticism, but everyone does it differently. When you play at a strike rate of 160 or 70, a lot of times not everyone can do that. It's very risky cricket,” Langer said. he said.
“The game is evolving, he's evolving, players have to keep evolving. We saw that this year with the opening partnership on the power play. I mean, the strike rate was insane. “Like all great players, he's going to keep improving. The best players and the best coaches all keep getting better. He's going to continue to do that,'' Langer added. .
Langer said only Rahul could tell if he was disappointed about being left out of India's World Cup squad.
“You'll have to ask KL about that, but if you look at his numbers over the course of the series, it's a pretty good series. A very good series, in fact. We're one game away from making the playoffs next week,” Langer added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
