Jason Gillespie has resigned as head coach of the Pakistan Test team, according to the PCB. This was officially confirmed after a few days of lingering uncertainty, culminating in Gillespie refusing to board his flight to join the Pakistan Test team in South Africa. Gillespie’s scheduled flight to South Africa was at 6am Adelaide time on Friday, but he informed the PCB that he had no intention of boarding it and decided to leave when relations between the coach and the board reached their peak. low. Aaqib Javed to take over as Test coach on interim basis for the series in South Africa; He is currently interim coach of both white ball teams.
Pak Gazette had first reported that Gillespie’s days as Pakistan head coach ended last month and that Aaqib would take over in all formats. At the time, the PCB responded by refuting that story, insisting that Gillespie would be the coach for the two Tests against South Africa, while pointedly refusing to commit to declaring that he would honor his contract. However, the relationship between management and coach went from bad to worse, and Gillespie would not take charge of another Test for Pakistan.
As first reported by Pak Gazette, Gillespie was left particularly angry after the PCB decided not to renew the contract of high-performance red-ball coach Tim Nielsen and was left considering his options. Gillespie was offended that he was not consulted, or even informed, before that decision was made, and it is understood that this has left the PCB with a lack of respect. Nielsen told Pak Gazette that he was happy to continue and was fully available for Pakistan’s Test series in South Africa and at home against the West Indies next month, but was informed that his services would no longer be required.
This appears to have been the last straw for Gillespie. Pak Gazette understands that he informed the board of directors of his intention not to travel under the current circumstances. It is not clear if the PCB has contacted him to convince him to travel; A source close to Gillespie said the PCB had not made contact with him over the past day.
Either way, a relationship that has continually fractured over the past few months has reached a breaking point. Gillespie was hired by the PCB to great fanfare alongside Gary Kirsten in April, with president Mohsin Naqvi saying his “stellar history” preceded him. But since October, the board has cooled on the Australian, initially removing him from the selection panel for the Test team. That led him to believe he was simply a “matchday analyst” and he noted that was not what he signed up for. He is believed to have had a negligible involvement in selecting the Test team for the tour of South Africa, and was unaware of the decision not to extend Nielsen’s contract.
There was limited communication between Gillespie and the board since the end of Pakistan’s white-ball series in Australia, where he coached the team on an interim basis after Kirsten resigned. Gillespie was initially asked by the PCB to fill that role until the Champions Trophy, but without a financial offer to reflect the greater scope of his role. It was another factor that caused relations between the board and the head coach to become strained.
It is understood that Gillespie’s anger was partly due to what he felt was a great relationship that Nielsen had developed with the players, a point he had raised more than once in public. Both Gillespie and Nielsen are believed to consider the fact that Nielsen does not reside in Pakistan as the reason why his contract has not been extended, although, as Nielsen confirmed, he would have been available for the next two tours in their entirety.
While it is understood that the PCB is yet to make a decision on a possible replacement for Nielsen, the current management has sought to replace the foreign coaches it appointed earlier in the year with Pakistan-based coaches. Aaqib, who took interim charge of the white-ball teams next month, now becomes the coach of all formats and is also part of the selection panel.
Gillespie’s resignation potentially prevents the PCB from paying the remainder of his contract in full, as they would have needed if they had decided to fire him. It was believed to be a consideration in Gillespie’s initial reluctance to resign, even when it became clear that the PCB no longer wanted him there.
Pakistan will play the first Test in Centurion on December 26, and the second in Cape Town will begin on January 3.
This article was updated at 18:32 pm GMT following Gillespie’s official departure.
