Justin Langer Sees India Cricket Head Coach Role As A Chance To Clinch ICC Titles

Justin Langer has expressed that becoming the head coach of the Indian cricket team presents an opportunity to win ICC trophies, but the role demands an exhausting 10 months on the road. The former Australia opener, who coached Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2024, was frequently asked about his aspirations to become India head coach, a position set to be vacated by Rahul Dravid after the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the West Indies in June.

"It would almost be the biggest job in cricket being the head coach of the Indian cricket team," Langer replied when asked if the BCCI has approached him for taking the high-profile job. "One, because of the huge volume of cricket, the huge expectation. It would be a great challenge. It would be great fun and it would be a wonderful opportunity to win ICC titles," Langer told the media at Wankhede Stadium after Lucknow Super Giants beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in their last IPL match of the season.

Langer cited immense pressure and workload that comes along with being an India coach, while adding that it has not been too long since he held a similar role with Australia. "But with all these things, the timing has got to be right. I did four or so years with the Australian cricket team. It is all encompassing. It is exhausting," said the 53-year-old.

"Rahul Dravid will probably tell you the same thing and Ravi Shastri will probably tell you the same thing. The pressure on winning for the Indian team is massive," he said. He did drop a hint that he might not be mentally ready to commit 10 months a year for the job. "I'm sure the next person who gets the job will be really looking forward to the project," Langer added.

Langer likened pressure in IPL with that of a World Cup competition, adding that it is the best domestic competition in the world. "I would say categorically it is the best domestic competition in the world. I can't get over how tough the competition is. There's so many good players. There's so many good teams. There's so much pressure on performance," he said.

"I guess the biggest thing is, it is just really tough cricket. It is like a World Cup. It is honestly like the same sort of pressure as a World Cup, and I've been to a few World Cups now.

"That's a great credit to the IPL that we're able to keep producing such fun, entertaining, evolving cricket in front of a capacity crowd with noise every game. And there's a game on every night.

"I'm sad to go home. I'm going home on the weekend. I'm actually really sad to go home. I've loved it that much," he added.

Langer admitted World Cup selection for LSG players in their respective national sides could have been a distraction. "I've had this sense that since the World Cup selection and there is always distractions every IPL but things seem to change a little bit," he said.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened, but we had a couple of poor games and it has cost us. We played some really good cricket. We started off well. I was warned about May; everyone's up and about in April, but how you go through May is very important in the IPL.

"(It is) something that we did fall away, we'll sort of analyse it as well as we can, but it has been disappointing because we had a very good team. We missed a few injuries to our bowlers, which made a difference," said Langer while adding that dropped catches 'killed' his side this season.