Gary Kirsten steps down as Pakistan white-ball head coach after 6 months; PCB names interim replacement

A day after Pakistan announced their new white-ball captain in Mohammad Rizwan, the Men in Green suffered a huge blow after as their white-ball team head coach Gary Kirsten stepped down from his position on Monday. Kirsten, who won the 2011 World Cup with India, was associated with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Gujarat Titans earlier in the year when Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed him in April earlier this year on a two-year deal.

The PCB confirmed the development on social media platform X. Test team head coach Jason Gillespie will take the charge on an interim basis replacing Kirsten. The former Australian pacer will travel with the team for their white-ball tour of Australia, starting next month.

“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,” PCB wrote on X.

According to a Cricbuzz report, Kirsten, the players and the PCB weren’t on the same page regarding some of the decisions related to the national team. Kirsten wanted David Reid as High Performance coach but PCB didn’t not like his suggestion, which eventually led to differences.

How did Pakistan fare under Kirsten? 

As far as his performance is concerned, Pakistan didn’t get much success under Kirsten. He started with a bilateral series loss to England before making a group stage exit from the T20 World Cup 2024 in USA and Barbados.

With the ICC Champions Trophy less than four months away, the PCB face an uphill task of finding the right man for the job. The name of former pacer Aaqib Javed has cropped up to replace Kirsten on a permanent basis.

The 56-year-old former South Africa top-order batter played 101 Tests and 185 ODIs from 1993-2004 in which he accumulated a total of 14,087 runs with 34 centuries. He was a member of the South Africa side that won the ICC Knock-Out Trophy 1998 (now known as ICC Champions Trophy); played in three ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups from 1996 to 2003.

He also coached South Africa men’s cricket team from 2011-2013 and inspired them to No.1 position on the ICC Test Team Rankings.