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'They Were Like My Sons But...,' Justin Langer Opens Up On His Bad Relationship with Australian Players

image-lj2xa2l6Pat Cummins and Justin Langer. (PC: Twitter)

Former Australian Men’s Cricket Team’s coach Justin Langer reopened old wounds over his rancorous resignation from the post in February last year. Leaving everything aside, the 52-year-old was heartbroken the most with the alleged narrative of being fallout with the Australian players leading up to his resignation.

Langer was appointed for the role of head coach of the men’s team during one of the darkest phase of Australian cricket, the Sandpaper-gate. He did a fantastic job of rebuilding the team from the aftermaths of the scandal and regained people's respect once again. 

His tenure lasted almost four years as Langer resigned from the post in February last year after being felt hard done by Cricket Australia board as they declined to offer him a long-term contract extension.

Speaking to Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club Podcast, Langer opened up on the hardest fact to digest during his resignation as the head coach.

"The hardest thing through the end of my period as coach was that I had fallen out with my players. That literally broke my heart. They are like your sons. I spent four years with them," Langer said.

In the lead up to the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, several media reports came up, citing team sources, alleged grievances in the team’s dressing room due to his intense style of coaching.

"I kept reading that I had fallen out with my players. But nothing ever came out publicly, but I kept reading that, this narrative. That hurt me the most. I love my players, and I still do," Langer added.

Despite there have been narratives of his relationship being broken with the players, Australia winning the World Test Champions made him feel complete. Langer has moved on and Australia achieved some unbelievable things under him.

In his four years stint, Australia retained the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001. They went on to lift the maiden men’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, 2021 and won another Ashes series at home.