Gary Kirsten has resigned as the coach of the Pakistan ODI and T20I team with immediate effect. Kirsten, who was appointed by the PCB on a two-year contract in April 2024, lasted less than six months in the role, and has stepped down a week before Pakistan’s ODI series in Australia begins.
*The PCB has announced that Test coach Jason Gillespie will fill in for Kirsten on the six-match white-ball tour of Australia.
There was a disagreement between the newly appointed Pakistan coaches, Kirsten and Gillespie, and the PCB as the board decided to strip them of the power of selection, with only that power being retained by the selection committee of which they would no longer be a part. Gillespie made little effort to hide his surprise at the events leading up to the third Test in Rawalpindi against England, saying he was now “a match-day commentator”, and that “it’s not what I signed up for. because.”
Kirsten has not made a public statement, but it is understood she is disappointed by the latest development. ESPNcricinfo has learned part of the delay in announcing the squad and the new captain for a few overs has had heated discussions on the board, and Kirsten is determined that what he says is taken into account. Finally, however, when the new captain Mohammad Rizwan was announced at a press conference in Lahore, board chairman Mohsin Naqvi was accompanied only by Aaqib Javed, a member of the new selection committee, and the new captain and vice-captain Salman Agha. Kirsten wasn’t even in the country at the time.
Coaches felt marginalized due to the increasing influence of the existing selection committee. After Pakistan lost the first Test against England, a new selection team was announced – the third in three months. Aaqib, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Hassan Cheema were present, while the coaches and captains were removed. Dar was credited with pioneering the idea of refurbishing the ground for the second Test in Multan – which Pakistan went on to win – while Aaqib became the public face of the refurb. It even led new white-ball captain Rizwan at one point to remark during a Test that Pakistan were now playing “Aaqib-ball”.
Kirsten’s departure, and the speed with which things have happened, is nothing short of amazing, even in Pakistan cricket. It means, for one thing, that Kirsten is stepping down from her role without coaching Pakistan in one ODI, the format in which she achieved her greatest coaching success. Pakistan have spent the better part of three months poaching what Naqvi called the team’s “best-in-class coaches”, with a few top-class players, including Shane Watson and Daren Sammy, in the running. In the end, they settled on Kirsten, who led India to their first ODI World Cup title in 28 years, in the white-ball format, with Naqvi saying it was “a fantastic opportunity for our players to get experience from these veteran players”.
Kirsten’s first major tournament was the T20 World Cup in the USA, an inauspicious start to her coaching tenure. USA’s defeat to India resulted in Pakistan’s early exit from the T20 World Cup, the team was eliminated in the first round after three matches. Babar Azam will step down as the white-ball captain for the second time a few months later. However it is believed that Kirsten needed time to get her feet under the table and build the side, especially with the ICC Champions Trophy in early 2025, the first ICC event in Pakistan to be held in almost three decades.
It is not yet clear who will replace Kirsten on the upcoming tour of Australia and Zimbabwe. Pakistan’s tour of Australia – which includes three ODIs and multiple T20Is – begins in six days, with the first ODI in Melbourne on November 4.
*0655 GMT: Story updated after PCB officially announced Gillespie will coach in Australia
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