Agencies
Islamabad
Gary Kirsten has resigned as the head coach of Pakistan’s ODI and T20I sides with immediate effect. Kirsten, who was appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on a two-year contract in April 2024, lasted barely six months in the role, and has stepped down hardly a week before Pakistan’s ODI series begins in Australia, ESPNCricinfo reported.
The PCB announced that Test coach Jason Gillespie will fill Kirsten’s role on the tour of Australia for the six white-ball games.
There had been a rift developing between Pakistan’s newly-appointed coaches, Kirsten and Gillespie, and the PCB since the board decided to strip them of selection powers, with that authority exclusively the preserve of a selection committee they would no longer be a part of. Gillespie had made little effort to conceal his surprise at the events in the build-up to the third Test in Rawalpindi against England, saying he was now just a "match-day analyst”, and that "it wasn’t what I signed up for.”
ESPNcricinfo said it has learnt part of the delay in announcing a squad and new limited-overs captain was down to animated discussions within the board, with Kirsten keen to have his input taken into consideration. Ultimately, though, when the new captain Mohammad Rizwan was announced at a press conference in Lahore, board chairman Mohsin Naqvi was flanked only by Aaqib Javed, a member of the new selection committee, and the new captain and vice-captain Salman Agha. Kirsten was not even in the country at the time.
The PCB announced on their social media channels that Test coach Jason Gillespie will be taking over Kirsten’s role for the Australia tour, which begins on November 4 and consists of three ODIs and three T20Is.
Gillespie, who joined as the red-ball coach at the same time as Kirsten, recently led the team to a historic Test series victory over England, Pakistan’s first at home since 2021.
Kirsten’s major assignment after taking over the head coach role was the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and USA, where Pakistan suffered an early exit in the group stage with losses against India and the USA.
The team was in preparations for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the first ICC event Pakistan will be hosting in nearly three decades.
The first batch of players will depart for Melbourne on October 28, with the rest of the squad following on October 29. Following the Australia tour, Pakistan will travel to Zimbabwe for another white-ball series.