After a few hours of Jason Gillespie’s possible removal news as the head coach of the Pakistan men’s national cricket team, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has clarified its stance. 

Former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie joined the Pakistan team as the head coach in Test cricket. Meanwhile, former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten was the head coach of the Pakistan ODI and T20I teams.

Recently, Kirsten resigned from the head coach role of the Pakistan white-ball teams, and Gillespie took those roles on an interim basis.

Jason Gillespie was the head coach of Pakistan white ball teams for Australia tour

Pakistan recently won the home Test series against England (by 2-1), despite losing the first match of the three-match Test series. Also, they won the three-match away ODI series against the hosts Australia by 2-1, where the Asian team suffered a close defeat in the opener. 

However, Pakistan have already lost the three-match T20I series against the hosts Australia with one match yet to be played.

PCB was reportedly searching for an all-format coach

According to ESPNcricinfo’s Sunday report, Gillespie would be removed from all the head coach roles of the Pakistan team. The report claimed that the official announcement would be released on Monday.

The report claimed that Gillespie was asked to continue his head coach roles for the Pakistan Test, ODI, and T20I sides with the present contract till the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. However, the former Australian cricketer reportedly denied that offer. 

While the PCB wants an all-format coach, Gillespie will reportedly be removed after the end of the ongoing Australia tour. However, the PCB earlier stated that after completing the Australia tour, Gillespie would rejoin the Pakistan Test team in Johannesburg.

After completing the ongoing Australia tour on Monday, Pakistan will tour Zimbabwe for a three-match ODI and a three-match T20I series. Then, Pakistan will play another three-match T20I and a three-match ODI series against the hosts South Africa before a two-match Test series in the same tour.

PCB clarified their vision

After the viral news of ESPNcricinfo, the PCB strongly refused that story. The board reclaimed that Gillespie would rejoin the Pakistan Test team, which was earlier stated officially. 

PCB strongly refutes the story. As announced previously, Jason Gillespie will continue to coach the Pakistan side for the two red-ball matches against South Africa. https://t.co/J5MYKuq368

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) November 17, 2024

Former Australian star pacer Jason Gillespie is likely to be removed from the head coach of the Pakistan national cricket team, as former Pakistan pacer and 1992 World Cup winner is set to replace Gillespie.

Jason Gillespie was working as the Test head coach and former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten was the white-ball head coach for the Pakistan men’s team.

Jason Gillespie took additional responsibilities after Gary Kirsten's resign

Recently, Kirsten stepped down from the head coach role of Pakistan’s limited-overs sides. In his absence, the Test head coach Gillespie was working with the white-ball teams on an interim basis. 

After Pakistan dramatically won the home Test series against England by 2-1, despite losing the first Test, they started the ongoing Australia tour with a historic ODI series win (2-1) once again after losing the series opener. 

However, Pakistan have lost the three-match T20I series as they are already down to 2-0 before the last game of the series. 

According to the latest ESPNcricinfo report, Gillespie is likely to be released from all the head coach duties for Pakistan. While Australia vs Pakistan's last T20I match has been scheduled for Monday (November 18) at Hobart, Gillespie’s tenure can officially end on Monday.

The reason for Gillespie's step down

According to an ESPNcricinfo report, as Kirsten left the Pakistan team, the Test coach Gilespie was asked to take the additional white-ball roles without changing the present contract. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was expected to see Gillespie as the all-format head coach till the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan will host in February 2025.

However, Gillespie refused to accept the additional role under the present contract. As both parties have different views, the PCB is set to release Gillespie, as the board wants an all-format head coach.

Aaqib Javed is set to replace Gillespie

The 52-year-old Aaqib Javed is likely to take the all-format head coach role of the Pakistan men’s cricket team. He played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs, where the right-arm fast-medium bowler took 54 and 182 wickets, respectively. 

Javed was one of the key members of the Pakistan team that won the ODI World Cup 1992. He took 11 wickets in 10 games of that tournament. In the final against England, where Pakistan won by 22 runs, Javed was the best economical bowler for Pakistan with the bowling figures of 10-2-27-2.    

Former Australian pacer and present Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie opened up his views on Australia’s performances in the recently concluded home ODI series against Pakistan. 

Although hosts Australia won the three-match ODI series opener against Pakistan, Pakistan won the last two ODIs to win the ODI bilateral series for the second time in Australia. 

In the series finale at Perth, which was a series decider, the key members of the upcoming home Test series against India were rested. Australia made five changes in the playing XI, while Josh Inglis made his captaincy debut in international cricket. 

Apart from the skipper Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood were rested from the series decider.  

In the third ODI, Pakistan chose to field first and bundled out the hosts for only 140 runs. The visitors comfortably chased down the target with eight wickets in hand.

It was pretty clear to us where CA’s priorities lie: Jason Gillespie

Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie felt that Cricket Australia (CA) didn’t take on priority the home ODI series against Pakistan due to the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where Australia will host India for a five-match Test series. The 49-year-old former Aussie fast bowler didn’t see any promotion for the recently concluded ODI series. 

Gillespie told the Sydney Morning Herald, "To be honest, I pretty much saw no promotion of our one-day series by Cricket Australia, which was a bit of a surprise. It’s pretty obvious that they’re prioritizing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against India because I saw no promotion of this series. Fox do a great job promoting but it was pretty clear to us where CA’s priorities lie. That’s their prerogative and their decision, but I just didn’t see any advertising or promotion of this one-day series at all.”

Our bowling exposed some flaws in the Australian batting: Pakistan head coach

Gillespie is happy with Pakistani pacers’ dominance in the recently concluded ODI series against the hosts Australia. He also feels that the Aussies will learn from the mistakes against Pakistan. 

Pakistan's head coach said, "What we saw in this series is our bowling exposed some flaws in the Australian batting. I’m sure the Australians will look to right some wrongs and improve some things. That’s what good players and good teams do; you learn and adjust and adapt and be ready for the next challenge. It was pleasing not just to beat Australia but to beat them pretty convincingly.”

Some experts and former cricketers, including the former ODI World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke, were unhappy with the team management’s decision to rest the senior players for the series decider.