pc: livemint
A day after Pakistan announced its new white-ball captain in Mohammad Rizwan, the Men in Green are likely to be in for a major blow as men's cricket head coach Gary Kirsten is rumored to be stepping down from his post. Gary Kirsten, who won the 2011 World Cup with India, joined Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Gujarat Titans earlier this year when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed him.
Although there has been no official statement from the PCB, a report in Cricbuzz states that all is not well between the South Africans and the cricket board. It also said that Kirsten will not travel with the team for the tour of Australia and Zimbabwe in November and December. For information, let us tell you that Kirsten is the head coach of Pakistan for ODI and T20I teams.
Based on reports, Kirsten, the players and the PCB were not unanimous about some decisions related to the national team. Kirsten wanted to make David Reid the high performance coach, but the PCB did not like his suggestion, which eventually led to differences.
How was Pakistan's performance under Kirsten's leadership?
As far as their performance is concerned, Pakistan did not get much success under Kirsten's leadership. They started off with a bilateral series loss against England and then a group stage exit from the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and Barbados.
If rumors are to be believed, Test team head coach Jason Gillespie may take charge of the white-ball teams on an interim basis until a new coach is appointed.
With less than four months left for the start of the ICC Champions Trophy, the PCB is faced with the challenge of finding the right person for the position. The name of former fast bowler Aaqib Javed has come up to replace Kirsten.
The 56-year-old former South African top-order batsman played 101 Tests and 185 ODIs from 1993-2004, scoring a total of 14,087 runs with 34 centuries. He was a member of the South African team that won the ICC Knock-Out Trophy in 1998; Played in three ICC Men's Cricket World Cups from 1996 to 2003.
He also coached the South African men's cricket team from 2011–2013 and led them to the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test team rankings.
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