Kirsten retires as Pakistan's white-ball coach

Between Pakistan's fresh mentors and the PCB, a gap was beginning to develop.

With fast result, Gary Kirsten has resigned as the team's head coach for Pakistan's ODI and T20I. Kirsten, who was appointed by the PCB on a two-year deal in April 2024, lasted barely six weeks in the position, and has stepped down almost a year before Pakistan's ODI line begins in Australia.

*The PCB announced that Examine coach Jason Gillespie did fill Kirsten's position on the journey of Australia for the six white-ball activities.

There had been a split developing between Pakistan's newly-appointed coaches, Kirsten and Gillespie, and the PCB since the committee decided to strip them off choice powers, with that power specifically the preserve of a selection committee they may no longer be a part of. In the run-up to the second Test against England in Rawalpindi, Gillespie had made little effort to suppress his surprise, declaring that it was" not what I signed up for" and that he was now only a "match-day analyst."

Kirsten did not make a public speech, but was understood to be disappointed with the latest improvements. ESPNcricinfo has studied part of the delay in announcing a club and fresh limited-overs captain was down to animated debate within the table, with Kirsten eager to have his suggestions taken into consideration. Unfortunately, though, when the new captain Mohammad Rizwan was announced at a press conference in Lahore, board chair Mohsin Naqvi was flanked simply by Aaqib Javed, a member of the new choice commission, and the new captain and vice-captain Salman Agha. Kirsten was not even a citizen at the time.

The coaches have felt sidelined by the rise in influence of the current selection committee. After Pakistan lost the first Test against England, a new selection panel- a third in three months- was announced. Aaqib, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Hassan Cheema were on it, while the coaches and captain were taken off. Aaqib served as the architect of the redesign, with Dar credited with being the original architect of the concept for the second Test in Multan, which Pakistan ultimately won. It even made Rizwan, the new white-ball coach, make an unflinching comment during the Test that Pakistan were now playing" Aaqib-ball."

The departure of Kirsten, and the speed with which things have unravelled, is little short of stunning, even for Pakistan cricket. For one thing, it means that Kirsten leaves his position without having coached Pakistan in an ODI, the type of success he had with his coaching. Pakistan spent the best part of three months in the hunt for what Naqvi called" the best in class" coaches for the team, with several high-profile candidates, including Shane Watson and Daren Sammy, sounded out. Ultimately, they settled on Kirsten, who led India to a first ODI World Cup title in 28 years, for the white-ball format, with Naqvi saying it was a "remarkable opportunity for our players to glean insights from these seasoned professionals".

Kirsten's first major tournament was the T20 World Cup in the USA, an inauspicious beginning to his coaching stint. Defeats against USA and India led to Pakistan's earliest elimination from a T20 World Cup, with the side knocked out in the first round after three games. A few months later, Babar Azam would step down as the team's white-ball captain. But it was believed then that Kirsten needed time to get his feet under the table and develop a side, particularly with a home ICC Champions Trophy in early 2025, the first ICC event Pakistan host in nearly three decades.

It is not yet clear who will replace Kirsten for the upcoming tours of Australia and Zimbabwe. Pakistan's tour of Australia- comprising three ODIs and as many T20Is- begins in six days, with the first ODI in Melbourne on November 4.

*0655 GMT: The story was updated after the PCB officially announced Gillespie will coach in Australia