PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has cleared the air over Jason Gillespie's resignation.© AFP
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has cleared the air over Jason Gillespie's resignation as head coach of the Test team. Former Australian pacer Gillespie resigned from his position earlier this month after PCB decided not to renew the contract of high performance coach Tim Nielsen. Gillespie was also angry that the PCB had also excluded the coaches from having a say in selection matters, a decision which had led to the ouster of white-ball coach Gary Kirsten.
“There were certainly challenges. I went into the job with my eyes open, I want to make that very clear. I knew that Pakistan had cycled through a number of coaches in a fairly short space of time. The straw that broke the camel's back, I think, was , that as a head coach you like to have clear communication with your employer. I was completely and totally blindsided by the decision not to have a high-performance coach,” Gillespie had told ABC Sport after his resignation.
With Pakistan set to take on South Africa in a two-match Test series starting on Boxing Day, PCB chief Naqvi has given his opinion on Gillespie's sudden departure.
“The role of the head coach is to coach the team while the selection committee has to select players,” Naqvi told Geo News.
Both Gillespie and Kirsten were signed to two-year contracts before the 2024 T20 World Cup and the PCB had promised a new era for the Pakistan team.
But once Aaqib Javed was appointed as the senior selector and PCB granted him full powers, including in team selection, the foreign coaches started feuding with the board.
Javed has also been appointed as the team's interim coach for all three formats.
Pakistan lost the T20I series against South Africa before turning the tables in the ODIs.
(With PTI inputs)
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