Pakistan Names Jason Gillespie as Head Coach for White-Ball Tour of Australia

PCB Appoints Jason Gillespie Australian Jason Gillespie has been named the head coach of Pakistan's white-ball series against Australia after Gary Kirsten quit the job. Kirsten's resignation was officially accepted by the board on Monday.

"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 posted on X.

Gillespie, who is currently the head coach of Pakistan's red-ball team, will take up responsibility to lead the ODI and T20I squads. The three-match ODIs and as many T2OIs tour against Australia will start from 4 November in Melbourne.

Kirsten joined the head coach position of Pakistan in April 2024 after a successful campaign with the Gujarat Titans of the Indian Premier League. Things were, however tough for him in Pakistan. The team he led suffered a series defeat to England and was humiliatingly knocked out of the last T20 World Cup at the hands of the United States and India.

Adding to all this, coaches in PCB feel they are being cornered as the selection committee is taking away all those powers. The poor showing after this spate led PCB to appoint yet another fresh selection panel-a third within three months-end with ex-players Aaqib Javed, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Hassan Cheema. Significantly this time the committee did not consider consultation from the coaching staff as well as the team captain before deciding on whom it was going to send on which type of break-up.

PCB on Sunday appointed wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan as white-ball captain while all-rounder Salman Ali Agha was named his deputy. Rizwan replaces Babar Azam, who resigned from the position earlier this month after being reinstated ahead of the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.