Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the onboarding of Jason Gillespie as its new white-ball coach as Gary Kirsten has exited the post.
Earlier, as per multiple reports, Kirsten was likely to resign from his position.
This comes after an alleged rift between him and the PCB, and a public statement is expected to come out soon.
In recent months, PCB has stripped Kirsten and red-ball coach Jason Gillespie of the selection powers, and the selection committee had been given full authority to pull all the strings. Recently, the committee underwent a complete overhaul, as PCB removed captains and head coaches, and the panel had been trimmed to just five people.
In its first move, the panel ousted Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah from the squad after Pakistan faced a loss in the opening test against England. Interestingly, Gillespie and skipper Shan Masood weren’t even consulted before taking the final decision. The move paid off as spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali helped the side to secure a 2-1 series victory.
Regading Gary Kirsten, the former South Africa batter was unhappy with the delay in the announcement of the limited-overs squad for Australia and Zimbabwe series, and could not share his opinion about the new skipper for the side. Moreover, his request of appointing David Reid as a High Performance coach didn’t sit well with the panel.
As PCB announced Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha as captain and vice-captain of limited-overs teams, respectively on Sunday, Kirsten was not even present in the country.
The 56-year-old took over as Pakistan’s white-ball team coach in mid-May, after donning the role of Gujarat Giants head coach in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The rumors of Kirsten’s dispute within the team floated during the T20 World Cup, where the Men in Green failed to reach the Super 8.
How did Indian team fare under Gary Kirsten?
Gary Kirsten coached Team India from 2008 to 2011, where he gained notable success across all formats. In 33 Tests, the Indian team secured 16 victories and had a win percentage of 48.48%. On the T20I front, the Men in Blue won nine of their 18 games.
India had a terrific record in ODIs, winning 59 out of 93 games and a success rate of over 63%. The Indian team went to clinch the title victory in the 2011 ODI World Cup at home, under the able leadership of MS Dhoni and Kirsten.
Overall, under Kirsten, India prevailed on 84 out of 142 games, marking a successful tenure. During this period, players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma received consistent opportunities and have now become the legends of the sport.
