PK Press Club understands that the decision could be announced as early as Monday. It’s the day Pakistan play their final white-ball match on their ongoing tour of Australia – the third T20I in a series that Australia have already wrapped up 2-0. As it stands, this would be Gillespie’s final engagement of a brief and tumultuous period as head coach.
It is understood that Aaqib was not the PCB’s first choice, with the board initially sounding out Gillespie to take over as all-format coach until the end of the Champions Trophy next March. However, he has been asked to take on the additional responsibility of the white ball with no change to his current contract: in fact, he can take on two additional formats without being paid more for the increased scope of his role. Gillespie turned down the offer, prompting the PCB to decide they did not want him to be in charge of the red-ball team and to begin the search for an all-format coach.
A PCB official, however, attributes the decision to replace Gillespie to the fact that he did not spend enough time in Pakistan. It was something the PCB had used privately to explain the resignation of Gary Kirsten, the newest white-ball coach before he left last month. PK Press Club understands that Gillespie’s point of view is that he spent every day that his contract required him to be in Pakistan in the country, in addition to which he also toured the Shaheens in Darwin without pay as a sign of goodwill.
How much time Gillespie is expected to spend in Pakistan is a controversial issue at the moment. They will have no home cricket for the next two months in any format and will travel straight from Australia to Zimbabwe, after which they will play an all-format series in South Africa. Their next home engagement is a two-Test series against the West Indies at the end of January, and their only white-ball matches before the Champions Trophy come in a short tri-series against South Africa and New Zealand in February .
After the PCB started looking for a coach, they first considered the possibility of either elevating Azhar Mahmood or appointing Saqlain Mushtaq, who served as coach from 2021 to 2022. However, neither others appeared to have sufficient support within the CPC’s advisory circle, leading to Aaqib being offered the position. It is understood that he will be asked to carry out this role until the end of the Champions Trophy, after which the PCB will reassess.
Gillespie’s time – should it end as planned – has been eventful. It started ignominiously as Pakistan collapsed in a 2-0 home defeat to Bangladesh, but things changed with a 2-1 triumph over England – Pakistan’s first series win home test in almost four years. With Kirsten’s resignation soon after, he was appointed interim white-ball coach for the tour of Australia and oversaw Pakistan’s first triumph in the country in 22 years, overturning another defeat in the opening match by achieving two crushing victories in the ODI series. . The subsequent T20I series was interrupted by rain, but Australia concluded it with one match remaining.
The decision to part ways with Gillespie would also mark the end of a remarkable year in Pakistan’s search for coaching staff. Last November, then-team director Mickey Arthur was informed by then-PCB president Zaka Ashraf that he would not be taking part in the Test series in Australia – Mohammad Hafeez played that role instead. Arthur and Grant Bradburn, then head coach, left shortly afterwards. Mohsin Naqvi assumed the presidency of the PCB a few weeks later, beginning the hunt for what he called “the best possible coaches”, ultimately nominating Gillespie and Kirsten.
At the time, he said their “brilliant track records preceded them” and they would be given the independence to work with their respective teams. Six months later, Kirsten was gone, without coaching Pakistan in a single ODI – the format in which he won the 2011 World Cup with India. Gillespie, it seems, is set to follow shortly.
For Aaqib, the speed of his rise has been supersonic. Until a few weeks ago, he was long-serving coach of Lahore Qalandars and director of cricket operations, where he had a mixed record; he led the team to back-to-back PSL titles, but also saw several last-place finishes, including earlier this season.
When he was appointed as a member of the selection committee, he was seen by the PCB top brass as the brains behind implementing spin-friendly wickets against England to transform this series. He left his post at the Qalandars to focus on the PCB, where he was initially considered the favorite to be appointed director of the National Cricket Academy.
He served as Sri Lanka’s bowling coach earlier this year, but now begins his most prestigious challenge. Pakistan are having a season of shock-a-bloc cricket right up to the Champions Trophy. Six white-ball international matches against Zimbabwe will be followed by the same in South Africa, with two test matches to follow. Pakistan will then play two Tests against the West Indies at home and a three-game series with South Africa and New Zealand before the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to begin on February 19.
Danyal Rasool is the Pakistan correspondent for PK Press Club. @Danny61000
