LAHORE: According to sources who spoke to Dawn, Gary Kirsten resigned as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach on Monday, only seven months into his position, after the cricket board of the nation failed to trust him with the national team’s selection for the next tours of Australia and Zimbabwe.
A day after revealing the teams for the aforementioned visits, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced Kirsten’s decision to the public. They also stated that Test head coach Jason Gillespie will lead the team exclusively for the Australia trip. The board’s brief statement provided no explanation for Kirsten’s departure.
The South African resigned because, according to insiders, Kirsten was not consulted or given any say in the team’s selection for the tours, which would see the team play three One-day Internationals and as many Twenty20 Internationals.
Even the PCB, which had announced in a statement on Sunday that the now-former head coach would join the Pakistan team in Melbourne on Monday, appeared taken aback by Kirsten’s resignation.
Dawn is aware that the selection committee, which was recently restructured to include retired international umpire Aleem Dar and former Test players Aaqib Javed and Azhar Ali, completely disregarded the former Proteas batter.
Following the inclusions, the committee was whittled down to five members, depriving the captains and head coaches of their ability to vote and essentially denying them any say in selection.
During Pakistan’s just finished Test series against England, Gillespie had openly voiced his worries about being reduced to a “match-day strategist,” but Kirsten didn’t respond until Monday.
According to sources, Kirsten chose to resign rather than protest the way the PCB and its selectors treated him.
On April 28 of this year, the former India head coach was named head coach of Pakistan. His first task was the T20 World Cup in the United States in June, where the national team suffered a shocking loss to the co-hosts before missing out on the second round.
According to a PCB source, the reason behind the rift between the board and the South African was Kirsten’s unwillingness to remain in Pakistan and hold training camps.
The source claims that Kirsten was also shocked by the PCB’s inability to comply with the head coach’s requests to hire specific individuals as support staff.
Pakistan has gone through four captains, three board heads, many coaches, and various domestic competition forms in the last two years.
“Replacements for AAQIB and SAQLAIN are likely.”
The PCB is already searching for Kirsten’s replacement, as Pakistan is scheduled to begin their Australian trip as early as November 4.
Aaqib or former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who is now employed by the PCB as the mentor of the domestic team Panthers, may take over as the national team’s white-ball head coach, according to a report published on Monday by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.
Given the number of white ball obligations the national team has coming up and the Champions Trophy early next year, PTI cited a source as saying, “The situation now is that the PCB has to appoint a new white ball coach.”
“Letting assistant coach Azhar Mahmood remain as interim head coach is one option, but Aaqib or Saqlain could also be hired.”
According to the source, there are additional applicants being considered, and Mohsin Naqvi, the board chairman, will speak with the shortlisted applicants shortly.
Selector Asad will fly to Australia with the national team, while Azhar will be in Zimbabwe with the team, according to PTI.
Prior until recently, the PCB’s policy was for the captain, coach, and vice-captain to decide the playing XI on tours, while the national selectors chose the touring team.
After losing badly to England in the Multan Test last month, the PCB modified its rules and restructured the selection committee, which now has the authority to choose the starting lineup.
The source told PTI that Azhar will perform a similar role in Zimbabwe. “That is why the board will send Asad to Australia so that he will be with the team for all the matches and will have the final say in selection matters after consulting his fellow selectors in Pakistan,” the source said.
