Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting is not able to take up coaching roles with the Australian and Indian teams because of "time commitments". Ponting said "giving up 300 days a year is not something I would do" with a young family by his side. He also revealed that he was approached to be India's head coach before Rahul Dravid took over the role earlier this month following Ravi Shastri's exit after the T20 World Cup.
"Time is the only thing that's stopping me [from taking the job], to be honest," Ponting told The Grade Cricketer podcast. "I'd love to coach the Australian team, but what I have done with my playing career was being away from family as much. I have a young family now, a seven-year-old boy, and to give up 300 days a year is not what I would do. That's where the IPL works so well for me.
"To be able to coach 8-10 weeks in winter months, and to be able to come back and do the Channel 7 stuff in the summer, I have got enough work to keep me happy and to keep me around the game but also be able to spend time with the family.
"Let's see what they [CA] do, if they ever split the coaches among say, white-ball and red-ball teams. I think everyone loves to coach the Australian team. I actually think, from my view, it's almost an older man's job and not for someone who has got a young family or for a person like Justin [Langer] where he is on the other end now where his family is all grown up and moved away. You are not giving up that side of your life. It's over 300 days a year, a pretty hard job. Justin's been under pressure since he took over the job, more so, the last few months. That's the only thing that would stop me - the time commitment."
Ponting also said he had a "couple of conversations" about the India coach offer during the IPL but he had to decline it for the "exact same reason". He was also "surprised" that Dravid took up the job given that he has a young family to take care of.
"The people that I spoke to were pretty hell-bent on finding a way to make it work because first up, I can't give up that time, that means I can't coach in the IPL," Ponting said of his conversations about the India coach job.
"There was a lot of chat about how happy he (Dravid) was [with] his academy role… I am not sure about his family life… I think he has got young kids… Anyway, so I am surprised that he took it. The people that I spoke to were sure they got the right person, so they were probably able to get Dravid to do it."
Ponting also confirmed he will continue to be with Delhi Capitals next IPL though he hasn't extended his contract with them officially yet. Having worked as the head coach of Capitals for the last four seasons, he said he wants to focus on developing the fringe players.
"Some of the young players I have had the chance to work with are exceptional and really good people," he said. "That's what I want to be able to do - the Prithvi Shaws, the Shreyas Iyers, the Avesh Khans, these guys, we had them in the system for three-four years that have really turned into exceptionally good IPL players, and some of them have also turned into international players.
"For me, it is not even about those big-name players. If I can keep a few of these guys, great. But it's more about the guys on the fringe - a lot of them haven't played a game. When you see them in the team, at the training, how hard they train and how much they enjoy the game, that's what I want to recreate if that's possible."
With the IPL retention deadline set as November 30 for the existing franchises - teams can retain only four players - he added that Capitals would try to keep the core players though that will be a challenge given that two more teams are added to the next IPL, and there will be a big auction soon.
"With the retention stuff, you can keep only four players, and we had 24 players in the squad last year. So to try and bring the majority of the players would be ideal, but It will be a challenge as well. With the two new teams, you can guarantee that they are talking to Pant, Iyer - they are trying to secure these guys as they are generational franchise players. It's up to me at Delhi to make sure they don't get their hands on them."