Gary Kirsten resigns as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach, Gillespie appointed for Australia tour

LAHORE: Gary Kirsten has tendered his resignation as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach, barely six months in the role, on Monday day after PCB announced the squad for the Australia and Zimbabwe tour.

Gillespie will now fill Kirsten’s place role in the upcoming series against the Kangaroos, featuring three ODIs set to commence on November 4, followed by a three-match T20I series.

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.

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 28, 2024

Just six months ago, Kirsten and Jason Gillespie were appointed as the men’s team’s white-ball and red-ball head coaches, respectively, in a major coaching overhaul by the PCB.

According to the sources, the resignation came after the rift between the newly-appointed Kirsten and the PCB developed over various matters.

ESPNcricinfo learned that Kirsten and Gillespie were not happy after the board, headed by chairman Mohsin Naqvi, 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.

The panel, which previously included the head coaches, was revamped which saw coaches and captain being removed from the committee which now comprises five members namely Aqib Javed Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Hassan Cheema.

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.”

Sources said that Kirsten insisted on having his input taken into consideration for the white-ball team and the categories in the central contracts.

When the new captain Mohammad Rizwan and the squad were announced at a press conference in Lahore on Sunday, Kirsten was not even in the country at the time. Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi was flanked only by Aaqib Javed, Azhar Ali, members of the new selection committee, and the new captain and vice-captain Salman Agha.