- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
The 56-year-old South African was not happy with the abrupt manner in which the Pakistan Cricket Board took away his powers in selection and other team matters
By: Shajil Kumar
PAKISTAN’S white-ball coach Gary Kirsten on Monday stepped down after developing a rift with the country’s cricket board within six months of his appointment.
The 56-year-old South African, who coached India to victory at the 2011 ODI World, was appointed by the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) in April end this year.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board today announced Jason Gillespie will coach the Pakistan men’s cricket team on next month’s white-ball tour of Australia after Gary Kirsten submitted his resignation, which was accepted,” the PCB posted on ‘X’.
Red-ball coach Gillispie, however, has made it clear to the PCB that he can only manage things for the white-ball tour of Australia which starts November 4 and is not interested in a permanent role as the limited overs coach, a reliable source aware of the development said.
“Gillispie has informed the board they should look for a replacement for Kirsten for the white ball games in Zimbabwe and onwards,” he added.
Though the PCB didn’t give the reason for Kirsten’s sudden resignation, the source confirmed that it was because he was not involved when the board announced the squads for the Australia and Zimbabwe tours and the new captain of the white ball format on Sunday.
The PCB has withdrawn the coaches selection powers. Selection is now exclusively the domain of the selection committee.
“Kirsten was not happy with the abrupt manner in which the board took away his powers in selection and other team matters and made this very clear to Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday before sending in his resignation,” another insider said.
He expressed fear that even Gillispie might end up resigning soon as he is also not happy with the current shift in how teams are selected now solely by the selection committee and coaches have no role in this.
Kirsten had been working as a batting coach with the Indian Premier League franchise Gujarat Titans before taking up the role in Pakistan.
The team is riding high on a come-from-behind 2-1 triumph over visiting England in a Test series that concluded last week.
Aaqib Javed, Saqlain Mushtaq in fray
Current senior selector Aaqib Javed and former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq are in fray to replace Gary Kirsten.
“The situation now is that the PCB has to appoint a new white ball coach given the number of white ball commitments of the national team coming up and leading up to the Champions Trophy early next year,” the source said.
“One option is to let assistant coach Azhar Mahmood continue as interim head coach but Aaqib or Saqlain could also land the job.”
Saqlain has remained head coach of the Pakistan team before but was replaced by Mickey Arthur early last year when Najam Sethi was in power in the board.
The source did say they are some other candidates under consideration and the board chairman, Mohsin Naqvi would soon have talks with shortlisted candidates.
The PCB has made no official comment on why Kirsten resigned nor has the former South African player said anything but board insiders say the dispute arose over several issues between Kirsten and the PCB.
“Look we had high hopes from Kirsten when we entered into a two-year contract with him. The idea was he could help the PCB to revolutionize the white ball team,” one source aware of the happenings said.
He said the PCB got the feeling that Kirsten never seemed fully committed to his job.
“He did not have a single camp in Pakistan for any of the white ball teams. He was not present at the white ball camps of the Shaheens throughout the summer. And it all culminated with him missing the majority of the Champions Cup.”
Another complaint against Kirsten is that although his contract stated clearly he would just take 30 days vacation in a year, he didn’t even spend 30 days in Pakistan after joining.
The PCB was also put off with Kirsten’s insistence on having more foreign coaches on his team and the dispute between them blew up once the board decided to strip the coaches of selection powers.
The PCB had also sidelined and pushed foreign coaches, Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn etc to resign after last year’s world cup. (PTI)
