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Former Australia coach Justin Langer has praised the role of coaching India as an “awesome job” but has ruled himself out of contention due to the high-pressure nature of the position.

Langer recounted advice from KL Rahul, captain of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), during IPL 2024, who highlighted the immense ‘pressure and politics’ involved in the role.

The BCCI recently invited applications for the head coach position of the senior national men’s team, with Rahul Dravid’s tenure ending in June 2024. This new role will span 3.5 years. BCCI Secretary Jay Shah indicated the board’s openness to hiring an overseas coach, leading to speculation about several prominent names, including CSK head coach Stephen Fleming, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer.

Langer, however, has ruled out the possibility of applying for the India head coach role, emphasizing that it isn’t the right job for him at the moment. “It would be an awesome job, but not for me at the moment,” Langer told BBC’s Stumped Podcast. He noted the exhaustive nature of such a role, having previously spent four years as the head coach of Australia.

KL Rahul’s Advice Before Applying for Team India Head Coach Role

Reflecting on his conversation with KL Rahul, Langer mentioned that coaching India would amplify the pressures and politics encountered in the IPL exponentially. “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, coaching India’. That was a good bit of advice, I guess,” Langer said.

Langer and Rahul worked together at LSG after Langer replaced Andy Flower as head coach for the 2024 season. Although LSG started the season well, they failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Despite this, Langer remains optimistic about renewing his contract with LSG for another year, indicating his satisfaction with coaching in the IPL.

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