Australia coach Justin Langer has revealed that the first six months of his job were so stressful that his wife Sue was left in tears during the time Virat Kohli’s India were on course for their maiden Test and ODI series triumphs.

Ahead of the Ashes starting August 1, Langer said taking charge of the team, which was reeling in the aftermath of the ball-tampering scandal last year, took its toll on him especially during the drawn fourth Test against India. “I’ve known my wife since I was 14 years old, so she knows everything about me, and they were leaving. They were leaving that day, and we were at breakfast at 8 o’clock and my wife started crying at the breakfast table in front of my daughters,” Langer recalled.

“I said what’s going on, I had never see my wife cry we know everything about each other. She said ‘I just don’t like what’s happening here, I don’t like what it’s doing to you, I don’t like what it’s doing to us, people are so mean, what people are saying about you and the team and Australian cricket’. That was a real eye opener for me, that it was affecting my family,” he said. India won both the Test and ODI series by a 2-1 margin.

A tense exchange with a journalist on all-rounder Glenn Maxwell’s Test future was another instance which made Langer feel that perhaps the pressure of the job was a bit too much.