Ganguly ‘not interested at this point’ in coaching India

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has said he will be unable to apply for team’s coaching job at present, but revealed hopes of doing the job sometime in the future.

The Cricket Advisory Committee is in the process off deciding on India’s next head coach, and are considering a number of applicants, including Ravi Shastri, the incumbent in the role.

Ganguly was part of the committee that hired Shastri in the job in 2017, and when asked if he would consider being the coach himself, he didn’t deny it.

“Definitely I’m interested, but not at this point of time,” he told Press Trust of India.

“Let one more phase go, then I will throw my name into the fray. Currently, I’m associated with too many things – IPL, CAB [Cricket Association of Bengal], TV commentary. Let me complete this. But I will definitely put my [name in the] hat at some stage, provided I get selected. But definitely I’m interested. Not now, but in the future.”

Ganguly isn’t sure who should be the next coach, and suggested the team is better off concentrating on their tour of the West Indies.

“West Indies in West Indies will be a lot stronger,” he said.

“T20 is their preferred format. They enjoy playing T20s, and they are the current [T20 Men’s World Cup] champions. The two matches in Florida will be tough games.

“Test matches will also be tough as they played very well against England. It won’t be an easy West Indies tour as it was five years ago. India will be challenged. There are a lot of young players in the team.”

India have a lot of youngsters in the squad for the Caribbean tour, especially in the limited-overs leg of the series, and Ganguly, who captained India in 195 international matches, said it was important the youngsters be bedded in by the time ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia comes around next year.

“As I’ve said before, you want to see these young players get consistent opportunities,” he said. “You keep saying horses for courses, but I feel don’t judge a horse if you want to keep them on the course. Consistency is important for rhythm and confidence.”