Gary Kirsten humbly refuses the wish of Indian players to extend coaching job, citing family commitments
Departing Indian cricket coach, Gary Kirsten, welcomed the sentiments of senior Indian cricketers, who desired for him to continue as the head coach of World Cup winning team. However, he politely excused from extending his role,
citing family commitments.
Prolific India batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, and the stylish Punjabi all-rounder, Yuvraj Singh, along with their team praised Gary Kirsten’s efforts in making Indian cricket team the world’s number one team, and wanted the former
South Africa batsman to continue his job. Nonetheless, Kirsten pronounced that it would not be possible for him, as he needs to spend more time with his family.
“It’s been humbling to be asked to stay back. This has been a massive privilege for me but I did make a commitment to my family that it’s gonna be a three-year journey”, said Kirsten while talking to media reporters. He further
added that “It’s a lot of sacrifice to be away from home for long time. I have two sons – seven and four – and they need to see little bit of dad. It’s not easy”.
Indian cricket team has been outstanding ever since the 43-year-old Cape Town born, joined it in December 2007. It was Kirsten’s competent coaching which enabled the men in blue to reach the status of World’s No. 1 Test team, and
are enjoying this status for about past one and a half year. In addition to this, now Dhoni and his men have achieved the landmark of being the ‘World Champions’ as well, and that too under the South African’s leadership.
Dhoni, being man of the final match and Yuvraj, adjudged as man of the tournament for his classy all-round performance, both gave credit to the South African coach saying that he worked hard in transforming the side into world
beaters and would be missed by the players as well as by the BCCI (Board for Control of Cricket in India).
The master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar said that, “Personally I want Gary to continue but I understand he has got commitments and he must have thought about this before the tournament. I respect his decision”. He further added that,
“It has been a pleasure to work with him, he worked as hard as the players, he is like a bowling machine, bowling 200-300 balls to the batsmen. It has always been a fabulous experience to rub shoulder with him, we will miss him”.
Kirsten had decided not to extend his two-year contract months before the World Cup. He also turned down the speculations regarding his next coaching assignment with an IPL (Indian Premier League) franchise.