Gary Kirsten Resigns, PCB Names New Coach For White-Ball Series Against Australia – News18

Last Updated:October 28, 2024, 12:49 IST

Gary Kirsten was appointed as the head coach of Pakistan’s white-ball teams in April 2024 but has quit the role in six months.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday (October 28) to confirm Gary Kirsten’s exit as head coach of Pakistan’s white-ball teams. The 56-year-old former South African cricketer was appointed for the top job in April 2024 after successful tenures with India and South Africa, but his stint with the Pakistani team came to an end in less than six months.

In place of Kirsten, Test head coach Jason Gillespie was announced as Pakistan’s coach for the upcoming white-ball tour of Australia, which starts on November 4 in Melbourne.

“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,” the PCB tweet read.

Kirsten was reportedly unhappy with recent changes in Pakistan cricket. According to a report in ESPNCricinfo on Monday (October 28), rifts were created between Kirsten and PCB since the board decided to strip him and Gillespie off selection powers. Kirsten was understood to be disappointed with the developments.

Whereas Cricbuzz reported that there were serious differences of opinion between Kirsten and the Pakistani players. PCB also reportedly played its part in the situation by not favouring Kirsten’s request to appoint David Reid as a high-performance coach. Instead, the PCB reportedly suggested alternatives, which were not acceptable to Kirsten.

During his tenure as head coach of Pakistan white-ball teams, Kirsten mentored Men in Green in a four-match T20I series against England in May and in the T20 World Cup 2024. But in both these tournaments, Pakistan produced a forgetful show. While it lost the bilateral T20I series with a scoreline of 0-2, in the T20 World Cup 2024, which was played from June 1 to 29 in the West Indies and USA, 2009 champions went down against USA and India in the first two matches to suffer a shocking group stage exit.

1st ODI vs AUS at MCG

Pakistan, which recently hammered England 2-1 in a three-match Test series, will travel to Australia this week to take part in a three-match ODI as well as a three-match T20I series. The series opener is scheduled to take place at Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 4, and the next two ODIs will be played on November 8 and 10 in Adelaide and Perth, respectively.

The T20I series will start on November 14 in Brisbane, followed by matches in Sydney and Hobart on November 16 and 18.