Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra has jokingly stated that he would need to get a divorce from his wife if he gets the Indian head coach offer. Notably, Gautam Gambhir has been the current Indian head coach since the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.
Speaking at the CAB Annual Awards ceremony in Kolkata on Monday, Nehra admitted that the head coach role would require him to be away for more than eight or nine months a year, adding that it’s not an easy task.
“Again, it is very difficult to answer that right now. First things first, I would have to check with the High Commission; that is, my wife! Otherwise, I might get a divorce. As we discussed earlier, international coaching involves travelling for eight or nine months a year. It is not easy. Everybody has seen that, when it comes to international coaching, not too many people have lasted more than three or four years because of the kind of demands and travelling involved. But again, we’ll see,” Nehra said as quoted by RevSportz.
“I would not use the word ‘ambition’. I never plan things like that. Yes, it would be a great honour and privilege, but I never plan for things like that. We’ll see what happens in the future. I am very happy where I am,” he added.
Furthermore, Nehra, who coaches the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), asserted that coaching an international team is much tougher than coaching an IPL side.
“I wouldn’t say that, mainly because, first things first, I’ve never done international cricket, so I don’t know. But definitely, when it comes to international cricket and representing a country’s flag, travelling for nine months, I’m sure that’s a much tougher job, if you want to call it a job. I never call it a job. Whenever they ask me if I’m working in Gujarat, I say, ‘That’s my passion.’ It’s not about working or having a job,” he observed.
“But coming back to international cricket, it looks easy, but it’s not. You’re travelling for nine months. When it comes to qualifying in the IPL, as you rightly mentioned, there are 10 teams, all equally placed. But in international cricket, when it comes to a sport like cricket, not like football, the whole world doesn’t play it. I wouldn’t say the IPL is a way tougher assignment or a much tougher tournament than international cricket,” he concluded.
