Coach Kirsten steps down

MUMBAI, India, AP:

Gary Kirsten says he's reluctantly given up the reins to India, adding he has no idea what team he'll coach next as a follow-up to winning the World Cup.

Three days after his contract extension with India ended with the World Cup victory in Mumbai, Kirsten said yesterday he turned down repeated requests from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to continue as national coach.

"Believe me when I say that this is one of the hardest of goodbyes that I ever had to say,'' he said in a press conference at the BCCI Centre.

Kirsten said he's received offers to coach only in the Indian Premier League, but for now, the 43-year-old former South Africa international said he was returning home.

"I just want to take a break,'' he said. "Even I don't know what I am going to do next.''

Kirsten's appointment in December 2007 was a surprise because he'd never coached an international team. Some India commentators were openly critical. He'd distinguished himself as a batsman for South Africa with 21 centuries in Tests and 13 in ODIs until he retired in 2004. Then he improved his coaching qualifications, joined South Africa's high-performance unit and opened his own academy in Cape Town.

Several India players he'd competed against were still around when he became their third foreign coach in March 2008.