New Delhi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday (October 28) confirmed that Gary Kirsten submitted his resignation as the national team’s white-ball coach just a day after the squad for the tours of Australia and Zimbabwe were announced. Kirsten’s departure is shocking after he was signed for a two-year deal earlier in May this year. Pakistan Test coach Jason Gillespie was named the coach for Pakistan’s tour of Australia, starting on November 8.
There was no explanation from the board and the former South Africa player is also yet to come out openly on the matter, but reports have suggested that there were rifts between the coaches (Kirsten and Gillespie) and the PCB took the decision to cut their powers from selection of players, transforming that to the new selection committee of which Aaqib Javed is currently the face.
According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, when Mohammad Rizwan on Sunday was announced as replacement of Babar Azam to lead Pakistan across the two white-ball formats, Gary Kirsten wasn’t present in the country at that point. In fact, Kirsten wasn’t even asked for his inputs over the appointment of Rizwan. It is also said that the 2011 World Cup winning coach wasn’t happy with the recent development in Pakistan cricket, particularly with the captain and coach’s scrapping of selection say.
Kirsten didn’t even stay for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan will host in February-March window next year. This is a first major tournament the Asian nation will host in two decades.
Gary Kirsten’s brief stint with Pakistan
Gary Kirsten was appointed in May this year and his first assignment with the then Babar Azam-led team was the four-match T20I series against England just before the T20 World Cup. Pakistan lost the series 2-0 with two matches being washed out. They lost to USA and India in the preliminary stage and failed to reach the Super 8 stage. After their exit from the T20 World Cup, Pakistan didn’t play any white-ball cricket. Interestingly, Kirsten didn’t coach Pakistan in a single ODI match.
