NEWS
Follow UsLack of communication with the Pakistan Cricket Board and the sacking of high-performance coach Tim Nielsen were the two big reasons why Jason Gillespie resigned from his post as Pakistan’s Test head coach. Gillespie, under whom the Men in Green won their first Test series since 2021 earlier this year, quit before the tour of South Africa.
Gillespie’s decision was on expected lines during the uncertainties around Pakistan’s coaching setup, with the trouble beginning from Gary Kirsten’s resignation as the white-ball coach. However, the relations between the former Australian pacer and PCB hit an all-time low when the board didn’t extend Nielsen’s contract as the assistant red-ball coach.
“I felt I was basically hitting catches, and that was about it on the morning of a game. You want to be able to have clear communication with all stakeholders, with selectors, for instance, knowing what the team is as head coach well before the game, or at least the day before the game," Gillespie said on ABC Grandstand show.
“A lot of good stuff happened from when I took the job on to where things have finished up (now), I didn’t get on the plane on Friday. The straw that broke the camel’s back, I suppose, was, as a head coach, you like to have clear communication with your employer. I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to not have a high-performance coach.
“Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that, and I just thought after a number of other things that had gone on in the previous few months, that was probably the moment where I thought, ‘Well, I’m not really sure if they actually really want me to do this job or not’."
Talking about his relationship with Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood, Gillespie said: “I developed a really close relationship with the test captain, Shan Masood, and felt we were certainly going in the right direction and things were going really well. All the feedback that I’d got or the feedback the PCB got was just how effective Tim had been in his role as well and the players were getting a lot out of him. They called him grandpa and there was some good banter between the boys.
“Shan and I spoke a lot about that and the players about whether you play one Test match or 100, it’s irrelevant. If you’ve got something of value to contribute to the team you can do that in a safe space and we felt we were making so many gains in that space.”
The PCB announced Aaqib Javed as the interim coach who is already in South Africa for the ongoing white-ball leg of the tour. Earlier, Javed replaced Kirsten as Pakistan’s white-ball coach, appointed until the 2025 Champions Trophy. Now, he will be also be coaching the team for the four Tests in this window – two away games vs South Africa and two home Tests vs West Indies.
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