Justin Langer rules himself out of contention amid BCCI’s search for new head coach

The current Lucknow Super Giants coach previously helmed the Australian cricket team for over four years.

LSG Coach Justin Langer during a press conference on the eve of the IPL match between LSG and KKR, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, in Lucknow, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (PTI Photo/Shahbaz Khan )(PTI05_04_2024_000240A) | Photo Credit: Shahbaz Khan

Justin Langer is unlikely to apply for India’s head coach job, despite having quite an impressive resume in international cricket.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is on the lookout for a new head coach with incumbent Rahul Dravid deciding to step down at the end of India’s T20 World Cup campaign in June.

While there have been several names doing the rounds - including that of Gautam Gambhir - there were speculations that Langer might also throw his hat in the fray. However, the former Australian player indicated on Friday that he may not be in the race. “It would almost be the biggest job in cricket being the head coach of the Indian cricket team because of the huge volume of cricket, the huge expectation. It would be a great challenge, it would be great fun. It would be a wonderful opportunity to win ICC titles, but with all these things, the timing has gotta be right,” Langer said.

“I did four or so years with the Australian cricket team. It’s all-encompassing. It is exhausting and I think someone else like Rahul Dravid will probably tell you the same thing, Ravi Shastri will tell you the same thing. The pressure on winning for the Indian team is massive. So. I’m sure the next person who gets the job will be really looking forward to the project,” Langer, who coached Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL this year, said.

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‘Dropped catches cost us’

While his team failed to make it to the playoffs, Langer believes that sloppy fielding ‘really killed’ LSG in the end.

“I think dropped catches cost us,” Langer said. “If you go back to the Delhi game at home, we dropped (Jake) Fraser-McGurk on 17 off Marcus Stoinis. And I think he hit 26 (21) runs off the next over and it really kick-started his whole season. I saw a stat today that we’ve dropped a lot of catches. We’ve probably got the best fielding coach in the world (Jonty Rhodes) and we dropped some catches. And often it’s (something) as simple as that to (decide) the outcome of the season,” Langer said.

The side also missed the services of speedster Mayank Yadav midway into the season. “We missed Mayank, he was huge. Mohsin (Khan) had quite a sore back for some of the tournament. But I think dropped catches is the thing that really killed us in the end,” Langer concluded.