Today I informed the President of the BCCI that I would not seek an extension to my contract to coach the Indian cricket team for family and personal reasons.

Firstly, I would like to extend my thanks to the BCCI for allowing me the honour of coaching the Indian cricket team over the past 22 months. It is, and it remains, one of the most challenging coaching positions in world cricket.

I am grateful to the players with whom I have worked in this time for the challenges that they presented me with and which I tried to meet in a professional, methodical and interesting way in the interests of the team and the individual.

To the media, my thanks also for constantly forcing me to question myself, my thinking and the way I went about my job of guiding the team through the many tests that we faced.

I would like to make special mention of my support staff without whom I would not have survived the rigours of the past 22 months. Ian Frazer and Greg King deserve special mention for their efforts as do John Gloster, S Ramakrishnan and Ramesh Mane. I am particularly grateful for the wonderful support of my family, especially my wife Judy, who has enjoyed the experience as much as I.

The people of India deserve a special mention as they are the ones whose attention, enthusiasm and love and support drive the great game, and business, of cricket in this country, and around the world. I thank them all, especially those who have written to me and the thousands who have gone out of their way to come up to me with well wishes.

I am also grateful for the opportunity to extend my knowledge and awareness of this region and for the wonderful friends that I have made here. I look forward to continuing my contact with India in the coming years and I wish Indian cricket and all those involved with it much joy and success in the future.