Gary Kirsten has resigned as head coach of Pakistan’s ODI and T20I teams with immediate effect. Kirsten, who was appointed by the PCB on a two-year contract in April 2024, served in the role for only six months and resigned barely a week before the start of Pakistan’s ODI series in Australia.
*The PCB has announced that Test coach Jason Gillespie will fill Kirsten’s role when touring Australia for the six white-ball matches.
A rift has developed between newly appointed Pakistani coaches Kirsten and Gillespie and the PCB since the board decided to strip them of their selection powers, with that authority reserved exclusively for a selection committee they would no longer be part. Gillespie had made no effort to hide his surprise at 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.” For.”
Kirsten has not made a public statement, but has expressed disappointment with the recent developments. PK Press Club has learned that part of the delay in announcing a team and new limited-overs captain was due to heated discussions within the board, with Kirsten wanting her input to be taken into account. In the end, however, when 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 new captain and vice-captain Salman Agha. Kirsten wasn’t even in the country at the time.
Coaches feel marginalized by the rise in influence of the current selection committee. After Pakistan lost the first Test against England, a new selection panel – the third in three months – was announced. Aaqib, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Hassan Cheema were among them, while the coaches and captain were withdrawn. Dar was seen as the original architect of the idea behind preparing a recycled surface for the second Multan Test – which Pakistan won – while Aaqib became the public face of the revamp. This even led to new white-ball captain Rizwan, at one point, remarking during the Test that Pakistan were now playing ‘Aaqib-ball’.
Kirsten’s departure and the speed with which things have happened is nothing short of astonishing, even for Pakistan cricket. This means, on the one hand, that Kirsten leaves his role without having coached Pakistan in a single ODI, the format in which he achieved his greatest success as a coach. Pakistan spent the better part of three months searching for what Naqvi called “best-in-class coaches” for the team, with several high-profile candidates, including Shane Watson and Daren Sammy, being canvassed. Ultimately they opted for Kirsten, who in 2011 led India to a first ODI World Cup title in 28 years, for the white-ball format, with Naqvi saying it was “a remarkable opportunity for our players to glean ideas from these seasoned professionals.” .
Kirsten’s first major tournament was the T20 World Cup in the United States, an inauspicious start to her coaching tenure. Defeats to the United States and India led to Pakistan’s first elimination from a T20 World Cup, with the team being eliminated in the first round after three matches. Babar Azam stepped down as white-ball captain for the second time a few months later. But it was then thought that Kirsten needed time to get her feet under the table and develop a team, especially with an ICC Champions Trophy at home in early 2025, the first ICC event Pakistan has hosted in almost three decades.
*06:55 GMT: The story was updated after the PCB officially announced that Gillespie would coach in Australia
